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HISTORY 



OF 



THE REBELLION: 



• 



ITS AL'THORS AND CAUSES. 






by joshua r. Biddings. 



NEW YORK: 
FOLLET, FOSTER & CO. 

1864. 

" . i * 






• • 









C 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S64, 

FOLLETT, FOSTER Sl CO., , 

In the Clerk's Office of the United States District, Court for the Northern District of New-Yorfc 



J.J. Rebd, Printer & Stf.rfottpkr, 
43 Centre Street, N. T. 






TO 

THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

FOR WHOSE RIGHTS ASD INTERESTS THE AUTHOR SO LOKG LABORBD, 
THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 

JOSHUA R. OIDDINGS. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



By noting the time when any particular incident is said to 
have occurred, and then referring to the corresponding date 
in the "Journals of Congress," "The American Archives," 
" American State Papers," " Annals of Congress," " Rebates 
in Congress," or " Congressional Globe," the reader will find 
official authority on which the statement is made. In all other 
cases the authority is particularly cited. 



PREFACE. 



The present Rebellion is the first in the annals of mankind, 
where a people have risen in arms against liberty for the 
purpose of! establishing a despotism. With its remote and 
proximate causes the people should be familiar ; its authors 
and abettors should be known to the present and coming 
generations. 

In the long struggle which preceded actual secession, the 
writer participated. It was his fortune to enunciate the policy 
of separating the people of the free States and the federal 
power from the support of slavery, leaving that institution 
entirely with the States, where it had been left by the patriots 
who framed the charter of our Union. Messrs. Adams, Slade, 
and Gates, then members of Congress, sustained the policy ; 
others subsequently united with us ; we were opposed not by 
reason, or argument, or justice, but by personal detraction, mis- 
representation, insult, threats of violence, and denunciation. 

The contest was earnest and protracted. For more than 
twenty years the author mingled in scenes of unusual interest. 
The adoption and repeal of the gag-rules ; the trial of the Hon. 
John Quiucy Adams; the censure of the author by the House 
of Representatives, and its reversal by the people ; the annex- 
ation of Texas ; the memorable defeat of the slave power in its 
efforts to establish slavery in California ; the undisguised cor- 
ruption exerted to tax the people of the free States for the 
payment of the debts of Texas ; the civil war for extending 



vU 



Vlll PKEFACE. 

slavery into Kansas ; the defeat of the Executive designs by 
the people, and the founding of free institutions in that terri- 
tory, constitute some of the incidents in which the author par- 
ticipated. 

Defeated in their designs of transforming the Government 
into a slaveholding oligarchy, most of the slave States rebelled 
against the Government which had protected them, defied its 
authority, and declared their intention to establish an indepen- 
dent power, devoted to a perpetual war upon human nature. 

Few who mingled in these early conflicts now remain. Most 
of them have passed to their reward; .and the author, as he 
lingers upon the verge of time, presents this volume to the 
people of the United States, as an humble memoir of the poli- 
tical scenes in which he participated, while it points out the 
causes and authors of the Eebellion. 

Jefferson, Ohio, August 30, 1863. 



THE KEBELLION: 



ITS CAUSES AND ITS AUTHORS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FORMATION AND CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT — ITS EARLY ACTION 

ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 

The Continental Congress of 1774 united in a solemn assertion that 
" the inhabitants of these Colonies, by the immutable laics of nature, by the 
British Constitution and their several charters, have the right to life, 
liberty and property." 

This avowal constituted the first step in the formation of what we call 
the "American Union." 

The publicists of Europe and many leading minds of the Colonies had 
turned their attention to the philosophy of human governments : many 
asserted the equal rights of all men to life, liberty and happiness. The 
doctrine was at that time much discussed in public speeches, in newspa- 
per essays and pamphlets published for its promulgation. 

The Colonial governments had been formed at various periods prior to 
the general agitation of these doctrines. Georgia was the only colony 
founded upon the basis of human liberty, from which her people, however, 
receded after a few years of experience, adopting the despotic principle 
that governments possessed the same legitimate power to enslave men 
which they had to secure them in the enjoyment of liberty : and while 
the declaration of rights put forth by the Congress of 1774 was far in 
advance of the governments of Europe and those of the Colonies, it 
nevertheless fell short of those subsequently enunciated in the Declaration 
of Independence in 1776 : but for the purpose of maintaining those 
asserted in 1774, the Colonists took up arms and gallantly defended their 
adopted faith at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill. 



10 DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES. 



1776.] 



But being involved in civil war, they felt the propriety of more 
fully vindicating their course before the Christian world ; and 
Congress appointed a select committee of five members to draft a declara- 
tion of principles to constitute the basis of the new government. 

This committee consisted of John Adams, of Massachusetts ; Roger 
Sherman, of Connecticut ; Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania ; and 
Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia ; each of whom had already distinguished 
himself as an advocate of the new philosophy. Mr. Livingston, of New 
York, was also a member of the committee, and, though less distinguish- 
ed on this subject, is supposed to have been as much devoted to the sup* 
port of human rights as were his illustrious colleagues. 

In their report they proclaimed the self-evident truths, "that all men 
are created equal in their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- 
piness ; that governments are instituted to' secure the enjoyment of 
these rights ; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive 
of these ends, it is the right and duty of the people to alter or abolish it, 
and reorganize its powers in such form as they may deem most likely 
to secure their interest and happiness." 

This was the second avowal of rights put forth by the founders of 
our Government ; and differed from the first in announcing the preroga- 
tives of life, liberty and happiness, as conferred on all men, in all ages, 
and in all climes. This declaration announced to the world that the 
Colonies had formed an indissoluble union for defending those doctrines : 
and was the consummation of the Union which had been commenced in 
1774. But scarcely had the Colonies united upon these doctrines, when 
the subject of slavery came under discussion. Georgia called on Con- 
gress to furnish troops to prevent slaves from escaping from the service of 
their masters. Many of the States legislated in regard to slaves who 
should be employed in the service of the United States, and some of 
them called on Congress to provide for the military employment of 
slaves ;* but the statesmen of that day carefully abstained from all legis- 
lation in favor of slavery, and wholly refused to recognize it as entitled 
to respectfid consideration. But the commissioners appointed to nego- 
tiate a treaty of peace with England, were not thus careful. Messrs. 
John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, were appointed for 
that purpose. They met the commissioners on the part of the British 
ministry, at Paris, and had nearly completed the negotiation, when 
Mr. Laurens, of South Carolina, who had been confined in England, 
being released by the British government, joined them, he having 

* Vide American Archives of 177G. 



THE CONFEDEKATION. 11 

been also appointed a commissioner : at his suggestion the seventh 
article of the treaty was made to read as follows : " His Britannic 
Majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without causing any 
destruction, or carrying away any negroes, or other property of the 
American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and fleets from 
the United States." 

There had been no instructions for .the commissioners to make . ir83 
any stipulation in regard to slaves ; but as peace was important to 
the Colonies, the treaty was approved, notwithstanding this stipulation ; 
but neither the army nor fleet of Great Britain regarded this stipulation 
as of any validity whatever. When they left the United States they 
carried away many negroes claimed by the inhabitants, saying, in the 
language of the Declaration of Independence, "Governments are insti- 
tuted to secure the enjoyment of liberty and not to protect slavery. 11 And 
this seems to have been the idea of the British ministry, who refused 
compensation for the negroes thus deported, in violation of the letter 
of the treaty. 

The Government under the confederation, not only refused to act in 
favor of slavery, but its powers were actively put forth in favor of free- 
dom. Congress abolished the institution in all the territories of the 
United States, and sent forth an address to the people, in which they 
said : " Let it be remembered that it has ever been the pride and boast 
of America that the rights for which she contended were the rights of 
human nature, and if justice, good faith, honor, gratitude, and all the 
other qualities that ennoble the character of a nation and fulfill the ends 
of government be the fruits of our establishment, the cause of liberty will 
acquire a dignity and lustre which it has never enjoyed, and an example 
will be set which cannot but have the most favorable effect on the 
rights of mankind." 

The old confederation continued until 1789. During the thirteen years 
of its existence, the powers of Congress were exerted for the entire abo- 
lition of slavery in the territory possessed by the United States ; and 
when the governmental authority passed over to the new organization 
under the Constitution, no human being was held in bondage under its 
laws or within its exclusive jurisdiction. Indeed, during the existence 
of the confederation no member of Congress raised his voice in favor of 
slavery ; or if he did, it would seem that no record of such opinions was 
preserved. 

In the convention which framed our Federal Constitution, at- r U8T 
tempts were made to resist the progress of free principles. South 
Carolina and Georgia demanded security against the abolition of the 



12 CHARACTER OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

slave trade, but the difficulty was compromised upon the constitutional 
assurance that it should not be prohibited until a.d. 1803. 

The States most interested in slave labor also insisted on being repre- 
sented in Congress according to their population, including slaves. This 
was violently opposed by members from those States which had com- 
menced the work of emancipation, as it would give owners of slaves su- 
perior influence in the Government over the advocates of liberty propor- 
tioned to the number of slaves they should hold in bondage, and thu3 
operate against the essential doctrines on which the Government was 
founded. This point was also compromised, and the slaveholding State3 
were allowed a representation according to the number of their free pop- 
ulation, superadding thereto three-fifths of the whole number of their 
slaves ; thus giving to slaveholders an influence superior to that enjoyed 
bv the advocates of liberty ; and the Constitution was thus made to ope- 
rate to that extent in favor of oppression. But as an equivalent for 
this superior influence, the advocates of slavery agreed to contribute to 
the support of Government in case of direct taxation according to their 
representation in Congress. This consideration, however, proved merely 
nominal, as the Government has seldom had recourse to that method of 
raisins? revenue. 

But the effects of giving to the slave States superior representation 
over the free States proved injurious to the Government, as it created a 
feeling of arrogance and superiority among the slaveholders, and a cor- 
responding sense of inferiority and dependence on the part of northern 
statesmen. 

But none of the compromises operated further than to secure the 
States against any prohibition of the slave trade for twenty years, and 
the enjoyment of a superior representation in Congress. 

Under the articles of confederation, each of the several States had, in 
their sovereign capacity, admitted the citizens of other States resident 
with them to enjoy all the rights and privileges which its own citizens 
enjoyed. Each also surrendered up offenders fleeing from other States, 
to be taken back for trial where the crimes had been committed. And 
under an assumed comity, each also gave up the slaves who had escaped 
to them from other States. These acts were performed by State author- 
ity, with which the Federal power possessed no right to interfere. And 
in framing the Federal Constitution, the several States, in plain and ob- 
vious language, stipulated that these practices should be continued, but 
gave no authority to Congress, or to the Federal Government to enforce 
these stipulations. And although this was the obvious construction of 
the Constitution, yet from abundant caution the tenth article of the 



DEVOTION TO LIBERTY. 13 

Amendments was adopted, declaring " that the powers not delegated to 
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, 
are reserved to the States respectively or to the people." Thus was Con- 
gress expressly prohibited from acting upon the subject contained in either 
of these clauses constituting the second section of the fourth article of the 
Constitution. But still further to secure the entire administration of the 
Federal power to the cause of freedom, the fifth amendment provided, 
"that no person shall be deprived" [by the United States] "of life, lib- 
erty or property without due process of law." 

A large majority of the Convention that framed the Constitution were 
evidently lovers of liberty, and supposed they had secured the people 
against all future attempts to prostitute the influence or powers of the 
nation to the support of despotism in any form ; and General Washing- 
ton, the first President of the United States, entered upon his official du- 
ties as Chief Magistrate of a free government, committed entirely to the 
securing of life, liberty and happiness to the entire people living under its ex- 
clusive jurisdiction. jSo slave was captured or held under Federal laws. 
The northern States, acting in pursuance of the advice of the old Con- 
gress, entered at once upon the work of emancipation ; and philanthro- 
pists looked forward to the day as not far distant when the entire nation 
should be free from slavery. 

But the spirit of domination remained among the people of the 
slaveholding States. They had embraced the theory that black men 
were designed by the Creator to act as slaves to the white race. In 
carrying this theory into practice, three men from Virginia, named Fran- 
cis McGuire, Baldwin Parsons and Absolem Wells, entered Washington 
county, Pennsylvania, and seized a free colored man named "John," car- 
ried him to Virginia, and sold him. 

The offenders were indicted, and Governor Mifflin, of Penn- ri789 
sylvania, demanded them for trial. But the Executive of Vir- 
ginia refused to deliver them according to the stipulation of the 
Constitution. Indeed, the Governor of that State asserted that the 
act of enslaving free colored men constituted only a trespass as between 
the parties, and a breach of the peace between the offenders and the 
State ; and as it was no crime to enslave free men under Virginia laws, 
there was no sufficient cause for delivering up the men who com- 
mitted the trespass or breach of the peace in Pennsylvania. This 
seizing and enslaving a free man of Pennsylvania, being tacitly jus- 
tified by the authorities of Virginia, would have constituted good cause 
for war between sovereign States. But the Governor of Pennsylvania, 
anxious to preserve the Union so recently formed, forbore all retaliatory 



14 PETITION OF DR. FEANKLTN. 

measures. Yet he transmitted an account of the whole matter to the 
President of the United States, who laid the same before Congress. It 
was, however, acknowledged by all that neither the President nor Con- 
gress could act upon the subject, and the State of Pennsylvania submitted 
to the outrage against her laws and dignity without receiving from Vir- 
ginia any reparation or apology.* 

The ruffians who kidnapped and enslaved this free man, instead of 
being punished for the crime, were regarded as having set an example 
and established a precedent for other desperate men, who, without the 
fear of punishment, seized free men in both slave and free State3, and 
sold them into bondage. 

1790 , The Quakers of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary- 

land and Virginia first petitioned Congress to pass laws prohibit- 
ing the slave trade. 

On the petition being presented in the House of Representatives, no 
member attempted any vindication of that traffic or of slavery. Those 
from South Carolina stigmatized the memorialists as " intermcddlers in 
matters outside their appropriate sphere of action." 

On the following day, however, a petition signed by the venerable 
Dr. Franklin, "President of the Society for Promoting the Abolition of 
Slavery, the Relief of Free Negroes held in Bondage, and Improvement 
of the African Race," was presented for the consideration of the House. 
This memorial, written and signed by that distinguished philosopher and 
statesman, who had served on the committee appointed to draft the De- 
claration of Independence and in the convention that framed the Consti- 
tution, set forth, "that mankind are all formed by the same Almighty 
Being, alike objects of His care, and equally designed for the enjoyment 
of happiness, the Christian religion teaches us to believe, and the 

POLITICAL CREED OF AMERICANS FULLY COINCIDES WITH THIS POSITION." The 

petition closed with the assertion that " the blessings of liberty ought 
rightfully to be administered without distinction of color, to all PEOPLE,"f 
and the memorialist earnestly prayed Congress " to step to the very 
verge of their powers for discouraging every species of traffic in the per- 
sons of our fellow men." 

The memorial also set forth in its preamble the formation of the so- 
ciety, which had been incorporated by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, 
and stated that, " by the blessing of Divine Providence, its efforts had 



* Vide American Archives of 1790. 

+ These may be regarded as the dying words of that illustrious statesman. He departed U> hi3 
final rest a few weeks subsequently. 



PROTECTION OF FREE NEGROES. 15 

been directed to the relief from bondage of many of their fellow creatures 
of the African race? 

This public recognition of the primal rights of human nature; particu- 
larly the equality of those rights which God has conferred upon all the 
various members of the human family; and the assertion that " no distinc- 
tion should be made on account of color," appeared well calculated to 
provoke denial by southern members. And but few circumstances of 
that day show more clearly the sentiment and feeling of the American 
people, than the tacit admission by southern statesmen of the truths 
uttered in this petition. No one denied that all men were formed by 
the same Almighty Being; that all were endowed by heaven itself with 
the right to life, liberty and happiness; nor did any one deny the doctrine 
that colored men have a right to live, a right to liberty and happiness. 

Yet members from the slaveholding States assailed the memo- [iT90 
rialist; and charged him with hypocrisy. They asserted that such 
memorials were calculated to stir up the slaves to insurrection, to light the 
flames of civil war; and intimated that the lives of certain members who 
maintained the doctrines of the memorial would be endangered, should 
they happen to be found within certain slave States.* 

The debate was continued at great length, but the memorial was re- 
ferred to the appropriate committee by a vote of 43 to 14. 

The committee reported that Congress could not prohibit the slave 
trade until 1808, nor could it interfere with slavery in the States. 

They expressed a confidence that the several States would protect their 
free negroes; asserted the right of Congress to levy a tax on the importa- 
tion of slaves; to interdict their importation to other nations in American 
ships; to prohibit foreigners from fitting out slave ships in American 
ports; and pledged Congress to the exercise of its constitutional powers 
for promoting the humane objects of the memorialists. 

On this report the debate was renewed with much warmth. The me- 
morialists were again assailed and charged with interfering in business 
which did not concern them. The Quakers were charged generally with 
having acted as spies in the Revolution, and now making indirect attacks 
upon southern men. They also insisted that the reprobation of slavery 
and the slave trade by the committee imputed to southern men the black- 
est of crimes; that the admission that slavery was a barbarous institu- 
tion was a substantial admission that slaveholders were a barbarous peo- 
ple. Dr. Franklin, at that time venerated both in Europe and America 
for his love of justice and his high moral character, was personally assailed 

* This is supposed to be the first threat of personal violence uttered in Congress on account of an 
avowed love of liberty. 






16 



FRANKLIN DEFENDED. 



for having avowed the principles on which he had assisted in founding 
our Government. 

1790] Northern members were more dispassionate, but appeared equal- 
ly bold and determined. They disabused the memorialists of the 
charges made against them, vindicated their doctrines, and spoke with ab- 
horrence of the crimes described in the memorial; but no further action 
was then had in regard to the matter. 



ACT RESPECTING FUGITIVE SLAVES. 17 



CHAPTER II. 

THE POWERS OF THE GOVERNMENT PROSTITUTED TO THE SUPPORT AND ENCOUR- 
AGEMENT OF SLAVERY. 

The Federal Government continued for seventeen years to main- , n9& 
tain the rights of all men under its exclusive jurisdiction, to enjoy 
life, liberty and happiness. Foreign nations looked with admiration upon 
this as the only political organization founded on the immutable prin- 
ciples of equal justice and equal liberty to all members of the human family. 

But this recognition of the divine attributes as the basis of human gov- 
ernment was in advance of the age. Nor were the American people pre- 
pared to maintain the doctrines in the spirit which prompted their adop- 
tion. The northern representatives, in framing the Constitution, had 
compromised their sclf-respeet in yielding to the slave States permission 
to continue the slave trade, with its attendant crimes, for twenty years; 
and in surrendering to them a superior influence in the Government, ac- 
cording to the number of their slaves : and now Congress was called 
upon to involve the nation in the disgraceful work of legislating for the 
capture and return of fugitive bondmen. As we have remarked, there 
was not merely no authority in the Constitution for Congress to act upon 
this subject; but that power was explicitly declared " to remain with the 
several States or with the people." 

Nor can we at this day state the reasons which prompted the intro- 
duction of this subject: nor can we name the member of the Senate who 
brought it forward. At that time the deliberations and proceedings of 
that body were kept secret from the people. From the annals of Con- 
gress we learn that on the 5th day of February, the House of Represen- 
tatives proceeded to consider a bill from the Senate, entitled "An Act re- 
specting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of 
their masters." We do not find that any debate was had upon it, but it 
passed the House of Representatives by a vote of forty-eight to seven.* 

The bill provided that whenever a person owing service in one State 
should escape into another, the person to whom such service or labor may 
be due, his agent or attorney, might arrest and take him back to the 

• This was the point at which the Government took Its departure from ice letter and spirit of She 
Constitution and of the purposes and designs of those who framed it. 

*2 



18 THE CONSTITUTION PROSTITUTED TO OPPRESSION. 

State from which he had escaped. The bill further provided, that a fine 
of five hundred dollars might be assessed upon any person who should 
harbor or conceal the fugitive, or hinder, or obstruct his arrest, or rescue 
him after being arrested. 

The passage of this bill marks an important era in the administration 
of the American Government. Up to that period its legislative powers 
had been exerted to secure (to the extent of its jurisdiction) all persons in 
the enjoyment of liberty, according to the declared purpose of those who 
achieved our independence. By passing this bill, Congress assumed to act 
for the support of slavery, and against that liberty which the founders of 
the republic declared that God had conferred upon every human being, 
and of which the Constitution explicitly assured the world that no person 
should be deprived, except for crime. 

But the powers ordained by the Constitution to support liberty were 
now prostituted by Congress to uphold and secure slavery: and it were 
in vain for us, at this day, to speculate upon the motives of those who 
enacted this law. So far as we are informed, there was no debate, and 
no man assigned any reason for his vote. The record indicates -.its 
passage without any discussion, without attracting any particular atten- 
tion ; and probably northern members who voted for it regarded the 
subject as of little importance, while slaveholders must have deemed it 
very desirable. 

But the precedent thus set was soon found to be important. The 
reader will recollect, that in our treaty of peace with Great Britain, His 
Majesty had agreed to withdraw his troops and fleets from the United 
States " without carrying away any negroes or other property of the in- 
habitants;" that, regardless of this stipulation, the army and navy of 
England deported many slaves. The several States from which they 
were carried could do nothing on the subject, and, although the clause 
was designed to uphold slavery, it had been inserted at the instance of 
Mr. Laurens, without instruction from the Executive, who appears to have 
felt little anxiety in regard to it. But as Congress had now acted for the 
support of that institution, the OAvners of deported slaves became clamor- 
ous for indemnity; and the President was importuned to obtain it from 
Great Britain. 

As Congress had assumed the duty of protecting and upholding slavery 
in the States, the President appears to have felt unwilling further to re- 
fuse action in favor of the institution, although he had long been anxious 
to abolish it. With Europeans, precedents, in matters of legislation, were 
regarded as of binding force; and this practice naturally commended 
itself to the statesmen of our country, who did not at that time appear 



jay's treaty. 19 

to realize that a republican government could only be sustained by repu- 
diating vicious precedents. 

Fortunately, Judge Jay, of New York, was appointed minister [17M _ 
plenipotentiary to negotiate the " treaty of amity, commerce and 
navigation with Great Britain." He was instructed to demand of that 
government a compensation for the slaves deported after the signing of 
the treaty of peace in 1783. The demand was accordingly made; but 
the reply of Lord Grenville was satisfactory to our minister, who, in his 
report to our Government, pronounced the claim "odims," evidently feel- 
ing that it was derogatory to the American Government to espouse the 
claims of men who professed to hold their fellow beings as property. The 
treaty was concluded without any reference to those claims; was approv- 
ed by President Washington and his Cabinet, and was ratified by the 
Senate. 

But a minority of the Senate were dissatisfied with the Execu. „ 795 
tive for failing to obtain compensation for the owners of deported 
slaves; and Mr. Gun, of Georgia, presented to that body a preamble and 
resolution in the following language: 

" Whereas, it was claimed that many negroes and other proper ty had 
been carried away by the British army, in contravention of the 7 th ar- 
ticle of our treaty with Great Britain of 1783; therefore resolved, that 
the President be required to renew negotiations on that subject, and if 
unable to obtain indemnity under the treaty, that he may urge its allow- 
ance as a matter tending to cherish the desired friendship between the two 
governments." 

This bold proposition for placing the Federal Government in the atti- 
tude of exerting its moral influence before the civilized world in favor of 
treating men as property, was maintained with zeal and ability and was 
debated at length, and was rejected by a majority of one vote* 

While these efforts were being put forth to commit the Federal Gov- 
ernment more fully to the support of this system of oppression, the Quak- 
ers of the free States, and of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North 
Carolina, remained true to that holy influence in favor of justice and 
liberty, which constitutes an essential element of their religion. They 
continued annually to petition Congress for the abolition of the slave 
trade, for the protection of free negroes, and to prohibit the building of 
slave ships in American ports by the people of other nations. And a 
law was passed prohibiting the exportation of slaves from the United 



* Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, attempted to renew this claim in the Senate of the United States siaty 
years subsequently. 



20 FRAUDULENT TREATIESc 

States to other nations, and forbidding the people of other governments 
from fitting out slave ships in the ports of the United States. 

But one of the most insidious methods of involving the people of the 
free States in the support of slavery, was that by which the Federal 
Government stipulated with southern Indian tribes for the arrest and 
return of fugitive slaves. 

Early as 1705, slaves in South Carolina left their masters and fled to 
the Creek Indians, where they were received with hospitality. They at 
length found their way to Florida and settled upon the Appalachicola 
River. They obtained lands of the Spanish crown, and as early as 1135 
were enrolled as a part of the military defence of that territory. Other 
slaves fled from Georgia, and found an asylum with the Creek Indians. 
In the years 1785, '86, and '81, the State of Georgia, in direct violation 
of the Articles of Confederation, made three several treaties with the 
Creeks for the purchase of lands and return of fugitive slaves. These 
treaties were declared to be fraudulent and void by the Indians, and 
at the adoption of the Constitution that State was engaged in war in con- 
sequence of these fraudulent treaties, signed by chiefs and warriors who 
had no other than a fabulous existence.* 

Soon as the Constitution was framed, the State of Georgia hastened 
to adopt it, and at once called on the National Executive to protect her 
people against the hostile Indians. 

General Washington exerted the iufluence of the Government to obtain 
a treaty and permanent peace with the Indians. The treaty was effected 
at New York, in 1790, and contained an express stipulation for the return 
of fugitive slaves. But the slaves then resident with the Indians at once 
fled to Florida, and united with their brethren who resided on the 
Appalachicola River. 

The Executive of Georgia complained that the Indians did not return 
the fugitives according to stipulation, and called on the President for a 
further treaty, which was agreed to, and Commissioners for negotiating 
it were nominated to the Senate and approved by that body. 

But long before the meeting for negotiating the treaty was to tako 
place, the Executive of Georgia furnished the Commissioners with a list 
of one hundred and ten slaves, who were said to have fled from planta- 
ins in that State. The return of these slaves was peremptorily 
demanded, and the Commissioners were informed that " tJie people of 
Georgia would abide by no treaty in which her Commissioners were not 
i.m$vMed." 

• Yii» u Exiles of Florida " and authorities there cited. 



SOUTHERN PROTESTATIONS. 21 

The Indians denied that those slaves were living with them; but asserted 
that they were with the Seminoles in Florida ; that the Spanish author- 
ities would not deliver them up, and that the Creeks were unable to 
capture them. 

The Secretary of War, General Knox, in view of the difficul- fm5 
ties surrounding this question, recommended that Congress should 
appropriate money to pay for these slaves. The President transmitted 
this suggestion to Congress, when it was read and laid on the table. 
The treaty was entered into at " Colerain," and several negroes were 
delivered to the authorities of Georgia at the time of making it ; and 
the Indians renewed their promise to capture and return others soon as 
able to do so.* 

At that time the popular mind had become so far diverted from the 
doctrines and spirit which guided the patriots who framed the Constitu- 
tion, that no objections appear to have been made to this covenant for 
capturing and returning fugitive slaves, in either House of Congress. 

But during the last session of the Third Congress, while a bill for the 
naturalization of foreigners was before the House of Representatives, 
Mr. Giles, of Virginia, moved an amendment, providing that every 
applicant for naturalization should renounce all titles of nobility before 
being admitted to citizenship. 

Mr. Dexter, of Massachusetts, proposed to amend the amendment by 
adding a clause requiring such applicant to emancipate all slaves which 
he might hold in bondage. 

The proposition, though in perfect accordance with republican insti- 
tutions, excited much feeling among slaveholding members, who insisted 
that it was insulting to the dignity of the southern portion of the Union. 
They averred that the slave States, since the Revolution, had given a 
hearty support to the Government. Indeed, they appeared perfectly un- 
conscious of that logic which teaches that no man could sincerely believe 
that God had endowed all men with an imprescriptible right to liberty, 
while honestly holding his fellow men in slavery. 

The Fourth Congress was distinguished by the numerous im- 
portant measures on which it was called to act. It became neces- 
sary to make an appropriation of money to carry into effect the treaty 
which had recently been negotiated with Great Britain and ratified by 
the Senate. When the bill making this appropriation came under con- 
sideration in the House of Representatives, the advocates of slavery stated 

* Vide American State Papers, Vol. H., "Indian Affairs." Also the " Exiles of Florida " and 
authoriUes quoted in that work. 



22 opposition to jay's treaty. 

ttiat their principal objection to it arose in consequence of the treaty 
having failed to secure a compensation for deported slaves. During this 
debate northern members exhibited greater delicacy than had previously 
characterized the discussion of slavery. They were cautious, avoiding all 
reference to primal doctrines. They seemed tacitly to admit that the 
Government might with propriety have insisted on full indemnity for the 
loss of the slaveholders ; yet as it was evident that a refusal to abide by 
the treaty would bring war again upon the nation, they insisted that it 
were better to make the appropriation. Southern members, however, 
remained firm in their opposition, and after a very protracted debate, the 
appropriation was carried by fifty-one votes in the affirmative to forty- 
eight in the negative, and the claims for deported slaves was thus dis- 
posed of apparently to the mortification of southern members. 

In May, a.d. 1*176, the Quakers of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and 
Delaware, at their yearly meetings, resolved to withdraw Christian fel- 
lowship from those members of their order who should continue to hold 
slaves. In obedience to this expression of their church, most of their 
members who resided in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Caro- 
lina emancipated their slaves. The persons thus set free had been bred 
in bondage and ignorance, and most of them were stupid and slow of ap- 
prehension. Desperate men were in the habit of seiziug these people, 
taking them South and selling them into bondage. The people of those 
States and of Pennsylvania sent numerous petitions to Congress, asking 
that body to pass suitable laws for securing these emancipated slaves in 
the enjoyment of their liberty. 

This appeal to Congress to maintain the rights for the support of which 
the Government had been founded attracted attention. A resolution 
directing the Committee on the Judiciary " to report a bill to prevent 
the kidnapping of free negroes and mulattoes," was adopted, and the 
Committee reported a bill, but it does not appear to have been called up 
for action. Indeed, northern members appeared timid and unwilling to 
bring forward any subject offensive to their southern friends. 

This feeling was further manifested on a bill to raise revenue by direct 
taxation upon slaves. It was reported in obedience to a resolution of 
the Plouse of Representatives, but no further action was had upon it. 
179 _, The Quakers of North Carolina, in obedience to the cauona 

of their church adopted in 1116, declaring that no member should 
hold slaves, emancipated their bondsmen. The number of persons thus 
set free is unknown. But certain individuals entertained the opinion that 
. u had no right thus to emancipate the servants whom they had held 
iu bondage, and they seized the emancipated people as fugitives from 



BARBARISM OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



23 



Eervice. The Quakers applied to the judiciary, and were at first de- 
feated. But they appealed to the court of dernier resort, and succeeded 
in obtaining a final judgment declaring the right of every master to eman- 
cipate his slaves. By this decision several hundred, perhaps a thousand, 
slaves were transformed into free citizens of that State. But this eman- 
cipation by the Quakers originated in religious principle, which seemed 
tu imply that those who continued to hold slaves could not be regarded 
'as conforming to religious duty. Slaveholders were restless under this 
implied reproof, and petitioned the Legislature of that State to devise 
means for remedying what they termed "the evils of emancipation." 

The Legislature did not hesitate to pass an act authorizing men who 
held a certain amount of real estate to capture and reenslave the persons 
previously emancipated, excepting those who had served in the army of the 
Revolution. 

But the class of men thus authorized to capture and enslave then- fel- 
low-beings were educated and unwilling to engage in such piratical work, 
and they unanimously refused to enter upon it. Under these circum- 
stances, the Legislature passed an amendatory act, authorizing any per- 
sons to arrest those who had been emancipated, and on proof being made 
that they had been thus set free, they were to be sold at public auction 
to interminable servitude. 

Nor should the feelings of men at the present age be shocked at this 
manifestation of barbarism by the Legislature of North Carolina. If it 
be once admitted that legislatures or governments may in any case 
murder or enslave innocent persons, the time and occasion for doing it 
must rest entirely with those who possess the power. The effect of this 
legislative act was precisely that which was intended by those voting for 
it— men of desperate character, gamblers, horse-thieves and outlaws en- 
gaged in hunting and capturing these helpless and almost friendless peo- 
ple. The Quakers assisted them so far as they were able. They secreted 
some and fed them until an opportunity was presented for their escape. 
We have no authentic account of the number recaptured in North Caro- 
lina.* Nor have we any data by which to arrive at the number who 
were captured under the fugitive act after reaching other States and car- 
ried back to North Carolina and sold into bondage. Many are said to 
have stopped in Virginia and Maryland, where the State laws regard all 
colored persons as slaves who cannot prove their freedom. These were 
said to have been seized and sold into slavery in those States, where such 

* The records of tho Court of Appeals for the counties of Perquimans, Pasquotank and Chowan 
ehow that one hundred and thirty-seven of these emancipated peopls wero sold by the Sheriff In 
one day. 



24 PKIMAL TRUTHS DISCARDED. 

transactions were so frequent as to excite no particular attention. Othera 
reached Pennsylvania, where they recognized the Quakers as friends of 
humanity, and making them acquainted with their situation, were pro- 
vided for and protected. Others, fleeing to Philadelphia, where Congress 
was sitting, were seized under the fugitive act and imprisoned in that city. 
While thus imprisoned, they drew up a short history of the persecutions 
to which they had been subjected. To this was attached a petition and 
prayer for relief, and this memorial was sent to Congress, then in session. 
Mr. Swanwick, of Pennsylvania, presented their petition to the House 
of Representatives, and moved " its reference to a select committee." 

Mr. Blount, of North Carolina, hoped the petition would not be re- 
ceived. He believed they were slaves under the laws of North Carolina, 
although they had been manumitted by their masters and pronounced 
free by the courts of that State, and admitted to be so by the Legislature 
which had provided for their reenslavement. 

Mr. Thatcher, of Massachusetts, did not regard them as slaves. He 
thought the petitions should be sent to the committee on the fugitive 
slave law, which should be so modified as to protect such people. 

Mr. Blount replied somewhat arrogantly, asserting that they were 
slaves, and ought not to be allowed the right of petition until they should 
prove their freedom. 

Mr. Sitgreaves, of Pennsylvania, would reverse the rule laid down by 
Mr. Blount, and allow them the right of petition, until they were proven 
to be slaves. 

Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, would have the petition sealed up and 
sent back to the petitioners. 

Mr. Christie, of Maryland, said it was useless to send this memorial to 
a committee, as the petitioners could not prove whether they were slaves or 
not ; and he hoped the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Swanwick, 
would never present another such petition. 

Mr. Varnum, of Massachusetts, hoped the petition would be referred. 
He stated that the petitioners complained of the fugitive act, and their 
complaints ought to be listened to and their grievances redressed. 

From these extracts the reader will judge of the character of the de- 
bate. No more grave question was ever presented to any legislative 
body. It involved the fundamental principles which lie at the basis of 
all human governments. The first question presented was : " Did the 
members of the Legislature of North Carolina possess the legitimate, the 
moral, or the just power to enslave these innocent persons ? By placing 
their mandate upon the statute book in the form of a law, declaring the 
manucr in which these men and women should be captured aud enslaved, 



FREE PERRONS ENSLAVED. 25 

did they impose any moral obligation upon them to submit and become 
slaves ? Did they confer any moral or legitimate authority upon gamb- 
lers, horse thieves and outlaws, to enslave those victims ? Had these 
people in defending their liberties slain the bloodhounds, horse thieves 
and gamblers, would they have committed any moral wrong in so 

doing V 

The fugitive act was also used to reenslave those persons who had 
been set free ; and Congress and the free States were thus involved in the 
support of this barbarism of North Carolina; but these considerations 
failed to secure even a reception for the petitiou. The House, by an ex- 
hibition of subservience to the slave power unworthy of the representa- 
tives of a free people, refused to receive the petition, only thirty-three 
members voting in favor of its reception, while fifty voted against it. 

From the commencement of the Government, it had been a subject of 
constant complaint, that free negroes and mulattoes were kidnapped in 
the free States, carried South and enslaved. The subject was one on 
which Congress was frequently memorialized, and during the session of 
1791 a Committee of the House was appointed to consider these memo- 
rials. 

Mr. Swanwick, of Pennsylvania, from that committee, made a short 
report, stating the opinion of the committee that the subject had bet- 
ter be left to the action of the several States ; although it appears 
that his own State, at that very time, could not protect the free men and 
women who had fled to it from North Carolina, because of the fugitive 
law which Congress maintained and kept in force.* 

Congress had assumed the support of slavery in 1793, and, in [m8 
the short space of five years, appears to have come almost entirely 
under the control of the slave interest. During this period no measure 
tending directly in favor of freedom had received the sanction of Con- 
gress, except that of excluding foreign slavedealers from fitting out their 
vessels in American ports. Yet southern meu entirely discarded the idea 
of rendering slavery permanent. On the contrary, they spoke of the in- 
stitution deprecatingly, declared their abhorrence of it, and assured their 
northern friends that they hoped at some day to see it abolished. These 
declarations led northern members to sympathize with them, to regard 
slavery as a burden which they were willing to assist in bearing: yet in- 
dividual members were occasionally led to the expression of principles 
that were offensive to slaveholders. Thus, when the bill to organize a ter- 

* Sixty years subsequently the slave States complained of such enactments by the free States, 
and finally assigned the passage of laws for the protection of free colored persons as one of the 
causes of the rebellion of 1861. 



26 PRIMAL TRUTHS ASSERTED. 

ritorial government in Mississippi was under consideration, Mr. Thatcher, 
of Massachusetts, offered an amendment excluding slavery from the terri- 
tory, although Georgia had claimed it as a part of that State and had 
by her laws'established slavery therein, and now consented to its being 
transferred to the United States upon condition that slavery should not 
be abolished. The mover declared that his motion was made in order to 
sustain the "rights of man" 

Mr. Harper, of South Carolina, did not believe the motion was a pro- 
per mode of sustaining " the rights of man." If sustained, he said it 
would banish every slaveholder from the territory, and exclude those who 
were absent. 

Mr. Varnum, of Massachusetts, insisted that where a part of our spe- 
cies where held in bondage, there could be no proper respect for the rights 
of humanity. He hoped that Congress would so far respect those rights 
as not to legislate slavery any further than it then existed. He "looked 
upon the holding of Hacks in slavery in this country to be equally criminal 
■Kith that of the Alger ines in carrying our citizens into slavery." 

To these distinct charges of barbarous despotism no southern man 
took exception, otherwise than to complain that it was calculated to stir 
up ill feeling in the South and to diminish the value of slave property. 
The debate on this proposition was somewhat protracted and was char- 
acterized by frequent allusions to the " inalienable rights of men," although 
the speakers appeared to regard the American Republic as actually sus- 
taining slavery, and only twelve vote3 were cast in favor of Mr. Thatch- 
er's proposed amendment. 

But while Congress and the great body of the people appeared to have 
lost sight of the essential objects for which the Government had been es- 
tablished; and instead of exerting its influence and constitutional powers 
to secure liberty, was actually prostituting those powers to establish slav- 
ery, the Quakers remained faithful to their religion and to mankind. They 
deeply sympathized with their brethren in North Carolina, who were 
suffering persecution for having given freedom to their slaves ; and at 
their yearly meeting they adopted a memorial to Congress, solemnly in- 
voking that body " to take into consideration the circumstances of one 
hundred and thirty-four persons, and many others, whose cases had not 
been made public, recently emancipated in North Carolina by members 
of their church and again enslaved under authority of retrospective laws 
of that State." " Husbands, wives and children (said they) are separated 
from each other, and, with acts of a similar nature practised in other 
States, has a tendency to bring down the judgments of a righteous God 
upon our land." The memorial also referred to the " solemn pledge of 



FUGITIVE LAW BARBAROUS. 27 

the Continental Congress of 1114, not to engage in the slave trade or to 
purchase slaves that should thereafter be imported."* 

Mr. Gallatin, a member of high moral and political position, presented 
this memorial to the House of Representatives, and moved its secoud 
reading. Southern members opposed this motion, charging the Quakers 
with impertinently troubling the House with this subject, which tended to 
stir up the slaves of the South to inflict calamities of far greater conse- 
quence than the evils then existing. They referred to events then trans- 
piring in St. Domingo, and insisted that the memorialists were endeavor- 
ing to stir op similar sceues in the United States, and one member insult- 
ingly proposed to lay the memorial under the table. They, however, 
admitted that the fugitive slave act was greatly complained of, and ex- 
pressed a willingness that its abuses should be inquired into; but insisted 
that the law of North Carolina was valid, declared that the State had a 
right to ree'nslave the persons set free by the Quakers, and that Con- 
gress was bound to sustain her in that legislation. 

In this debate southern statesmen first publicly threatened to dissolve 
the Union, if Congress persisted in discussing the "subject of slavery. 
They declared that a prejudice then existed in the South, that the north- 
ern and eastern States were opposed to " this kind of property, with 
which they had no right to interfere." 

On the other hand, the right of petition was maintained and the char- 
acter of the Quakers was vindicated, and great abhorrence of the barbar- 
ous character of North Carolina legislation expressed. The motion 
for a second reading of the memorial and its commitment to a select 
committee was carried by a vote of fifty -nine in the affirmative, which, 
being a majority of all the members, the negative was not counted ; and 
although perhaps the only legitimate remedy sought by the memorial 
was a repeal of the fugitive slave law, yet the committee, in their report, 
did not even refer to that act, but stated that the evils complained of 
were only to be remedied by the several Slates. 

The traffic in African slaves still continued, and although Con- .- m9 
gress could not prohibit it until a.d. 1808, yet they had the 
power to prohibit the fitting out of slave ships by other nations in our 
own ports, and to prohibit Americans from exporting slaves from the 
United States to other governments. The law of 1195 on this subject 
had proven ineffectual, and slaves were still purchased in American ports 

* This reference to " acts of a similar nature" is not very clearly expressed ; but is presumed to 
refer to the kidnapping of free colored men in Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and carry- 
ing them South and selling them as slaves, a subject on which the Quakers often petitioned Con- 
gress. 



28 COASTWISE SLAVE TKADE. 

and carried to New Orleans, to Cuba and other West India islands. 
But the manner in which Congress had treated petitions on this subject 
created distrust among the people, and it appeared necessary for that 
body to take some action testifying its fidelity to the cause of liberty. A 
bill was therefore introduced to the consideration of the House of Repre- 
sentatives prohibiting all citizens of the United States from engaging 
in the slave trade except in the manner pointed out by the laws of some 
State of the Union. 

Mr. Brown, of Rhode Island, opposed the bill. He could not see why 
Americans should be prohibited from engaging in this commerce, which 
he declared was very profitable, making a market for an immense quan- 
tity of New England rum, thereby aiding and encouraging the distille- 
ries of that section of the Union. 

Mr. Nicholas, of Virginia, said he, with many other southern members, 
was constrained to hold slaves, not from choice, but from necessity, but 
hoped that at no distant day his State would be free from that curse. 
He was anxious to see whether there was another member willing to unite 
with Mr. Brown in opposition to the bill. 

The bill, however, did not prevent men from following the slave trade 
" under the laws of any State," and therefore the members from southern 
States voted for the bill with the exceptions of Messrs. Huger and Rut- 
ledge, of South Carolina; Mr. Brown, of Rhode Island, and Mr. Dickson, 
of North Carolina. 
Qnn , The coastwise slave trade was carried on at the period to which 

1800. J __ . - 

we are referring in a most barbarous manner irom Maryland, 
Delaware and Virginia to South Carolina and Georgia. The victims of 
this traffic were kept in utter ignorance of their sale until the slave mer- 
chant had purchased the desired number and prepared to transport them 
to market. They were then taken to the place of rendezvous and im- 
prisoned in cellars and jails at or near some port until they were hurried 
on board the vessel designed to carry them South. At the moment of 
going on board they were usually joined by free colored persons who had 
been arrested under professed authority of the fugitive slave law, and 
others who had been kidnapped without such pretense, and all were 
crowded together in the hold of some small vessel and carried to the bar- 
racoons of South Carolina or Georgia. These offences were perpetrated 
with perfect impunity, and probably at no period of American history 
has the slave power ruled our nation with more despotic sway than at 
the close of the eighteenth century. 

The Quakers had been treated with such disrespect and then- memorials 
so lon^- disregarded, that for the time they ceased to petition Congress on 



EXULTATION OK SLAVEHOLDERS. 29 

the subject of crimes which had become so familiar as to lose the horrors 
with which good men had viewed them ; but the free people of color in 
Philadelphia and vicinity sent to Congress a memorial stating the facts 
referred to, and prayed protection and relief from that body. 

The memorial was respectfully presented and its reference to a com- 
mittee moved. Southern members hoped it would be laid on the table 
and never again called np. They spoke of the " colored gentlemen 1 ' who 
had signed the petition in the most bitter irony, wishing northern mem- 
bers joy in their new association with negroes ; said they too had colored 
men, but they were slaves, and they thanked God that they were slaves, 
and not at liberty to cut their masters throats. They referred with great 
apparent contempt to the " new fangled French philosophy" that proposed 
universal freedom, and declared it injurious to discuss the subjects embraced 
in the petition.* 

This is believed to be the first instance in which even southern mem- 
bers of Congress publicly expressed gratification that slavery existed 
among them. They had, however, constantly exhibited an increasing 
self-importance and assurance from the time that Congress consented to 
act in favor of " the institution." On the present occasion northern 
members replied that the fugitive slave law was introduced by southern 
members, who solicited their northern brethren to vote for it. That it now 
contributed to aid those piratical kidnappers who captured freemen and 
enslaved them. Its repeal was therefore a subject of legitimate debate. 
The matter was finally referred to a select committee, who made no re- 
port, and the proposition was no more agitated at that session. 

The historian would be unfaithful to the cause of freedom were [180L 
he silent as to the great service rendered to advancing civilization 
by Mr. Jefferson on coming into the office of President. 

Even while the convention that framed the Constitution was in session 
it was seen that two opinions were entertained by the founders of our 
Government. One class of statesmen were in favor of retaining so much 
of the monarchal principle as in their opinion was necessary to constitute 
a strong government. The other were in favor of leaving as much power 
in the hands of the people as could be left with them and yet establish 
a government with sufficient authority to execute its laws. Mr. Hamil- 
ton became the leader of the former party, which guided the legislative 
m of Congress during the administration of both Presidents, Wash- 
on and the elder Adams. The latter party was led by Mr. Jeffer- 

* The French Assembly of Deputies had declared liberty to the slaves to their West India 
triooiea 






30 POLITICAL PARTIES. 

sou, who iusisted upon a strict construction of the Constitution, declaring 
that Congress possessed no authority to legislate on auy subject unless 
expressly authorized to do so by the Constitution'. 

The Federalists, under Mr. Hamilton, insisted that Congress could legis- 
late under implied authority of the Constitution whenever that body 
should deem such legislation necessary. 

In 1798, in a time of peace, Congress passed an act to punish persons 
who should conspire to oppose any measure of Government or impede 
the operation of any law, or intimidate any officer in executing any law, 
"or should publish any false, malicious or defamatory words against the 
Government of the United States, or against either House of Congress, or 
against the President, or should excite against them or either of them the 
hatred of the people." 

Mr. Jefferson and the Republican party denied that Congress pos- 
sessed any Constitutional authority whatever to pass such a law. That 
as in doing this Congress had overstepped its authority, the act must be 
void ; that it possessed no element of law, imposed no obligation, and 
conferred no authority on any person to execute it. 

The issue was of the highest importance. Indeed, it was vital to all 
free governments. Party spirit ran high, and soon indictments were 
found in the district courts then sitting in various States against men 
who treated the enactment as void. The most distinguished attorneys 
were engaged and the constitutionality of the law was fully discussed. 
The district courts decided that it was constitutional. The cases were 
removed to the Supreme Court of the United States and again argued, 
and that high tribunal decided the law to be constitutional. 

The Federalists now supposed their opinions confirmed and settled for- 
ever. The Republicans denied that any such power was vested in the 
courts. They were only authorized to decide the cases before them, 
nothing more; to that decision the parties were bound to submit; not so 
with the people. They framed the Constitution, and they alone could 
give final construction to it. They could elect a President who would 
disregard the decision, who would nominate judges that would overrule 
it, and as Mr. Jefferson had denied the constitutionality of the law, and 
as it was believed that a great majority of the people denied it, it was 
proper that he should be the next president. There were other issues 
and other considerations involved in the presidential election of 1800; 
but this is believed to be the only constitutional question then agitated. 

Mr. Jefferson was elected upon this issue, and, conscious of the cor- 
rectness of his doctrine, he at once pardoned all persons who were indict- 
ed or convicted under the sedition law. This was probably one of the 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ORGANIZED. 31 

proudest triumphs of principle achieved by the people of our Union since 
the adoption of the Constitution ; but we are led to pause and inquire 
why Mr. Jefferson and the Republicans of that day did nut apply the 
doctrine thus established to the fugitive slave act, so palpably a violation 
of the Constitution as well as of the " natural law V The only answer 
to the inquiry is, that the slavcholding influence then ruled the nation. 

At the commencement of the present century Congress accepted 
grants from Maryland and Virginia of the territory which sub- [18 "" 

quently constituted the. District of Colombia, and passed an act for 
its organization. By this act, the laws of Virginia were declared to re- 
main in force in the territory ceded by that State, and the lawsof Mary- 
land u Jared to be, and remain, in force in the territory ceded by 
that State, tin,, making the slave laws of those States acts of Congress. 
These laws had been enacted in a darker and more barbarous a-e° and 
were wholly nnsuited to the then state of civilization in the free States. 
.- ei the subject of the slave code does not appear to have been discussed 
or examined at the time it was adopted by Congress. Indeed its 

bearing upon slavery does not appear to havo been referred to at the 
time.* 

The struggles for liberty by the colored people of the French 
Vest India islands attracted much attention both in Europe and ^ 
America. The emancipated slaves from Havti often sought an asylum 
m the l nited States. Their presence among the slaves of our southern 
States were said to exert an " unhappy influence in favor of liberty." 

The people of Wilmington, North Carolina, memorialized Congress on 
the subject, praying that body to pass a law inflicting severe penalties 
upon persons landing in any State whose laws prohibited their presence. 
This demand for protecting slavery from the moral influences of freedom 
was regarded as somewhat extraordinary; but a bill was introduced de- 
claring the ship, tackle and furniture employed in importing such eman- 
cipated slaves to be forfeited, and requiring officers of the United States 
to enforce the law. The bill was strongly opposed, and from the meagre 
report of the debate there appears to have been much northern as well 
as southern feeling elicited. The advocates of the measure have left no 
record of their arguments in favor of the policy, but the bill passed with- 
out any record of the ayes and noes. 

The people of the slave States now demanded a more efficient fugitive 

blSi IT* °1 Mai7,an , d ' theD ' m f ° rCe> lf * S ' aVe W6re C0DTicted of "««»* fi " t° Ms iter's 

d 2 T r Were aUth ° riZed '° ° rder Wm hanged ' •* heatl "™*i '™> !>«■ ^dy, his body 

Zltt h r Tw^ and diSP ° Sed ° f aS the C0Urt should direct ! and this ^atute remained in 
force in the city of Washington until the abolition of slavery in that city in ls62 



32 SLAVEHOLDERS DEMAND PROTECTION. 

law. They complained that slaves left their masters and fled into the 
free States, where, by their labor, they were able to obtain food and 
clothing. They therefore would remain in such free States rather than 
return to their masters. 

Mr. Nicholson, of Maryland, introduced a bill in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, prohibiting persons under severe penalties from employing any 
black or mulatto laborer who could not show his title to liberty by a cer- 
tificate from some court of record, some judge, or some justice of the 
peace. The bill also made it the duty of the person so employing any 
black or mulatto to publish a description of the person so employed in 
two newspapers of general circulation. 

But these despotic provisions provoked debate. Northern members 
declared themselves unwilling to impose upon every black or mulatto 
in the free States, the expense of obtaining and carrying about with him 
the evidence of his right to freedom. And they revolted at the proposi- 
tion that northern farmers and mechanics should be at the trouble and ex- 
pense of publishing in two newspapers a description of the laborers who 
served them. 

But the debate was conducted in good temper, and the bill was de- 
feated by a majority of three votes. 

1603 1 Upon the admission of Ohio into the Union, a territorial gov- 

ernment had been formed in Indiana, and William Henry HarrL 
son, a Virginian by birth and education, was appointed Governor. Most 
of the inhabitants at that time living in the territory had emigrated from 
Kentucky, Virginia, and other slave States. The country was new and 
required great labor to reduce the lands to cultivation. The people feel- 
ing a strong attachment to slavery, very naturally desired the benefit of 
slave labor to aid them in clearing their lands. 

To obtain that privilege, a large convention was called at Vincennes; 
Governor Harrison presided. The meeting adopted a series of resolu- 
tions, asking Congress to, suspend for ten years the operations of the sixth 
article of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery in the territory 
northwest of the Ohio River. 

The Goyernor inclosed the proceedings of the meeting in a letter to 
Congress, urging compliance with the memorial. The letter and proceed- 
ings of the meeting were respectfully referred to a select committee, who 
reported that such a suspension of the ordinance would be inexpedient; 
and this effort to reestablish slavery in that territory was defeated. 

It was during the year of which we are now writing, that South Caro- 
lina first shocked the conscience of the American people by her action in 
favor of the slave trade. For nearly a century, the Quakers of England 



SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE SLAVE TKADE. 33 

and many of that sect in the United States, had regarded the traffic 
in human beings as barbarous; and long before the Revolution the 
people of the Colonies had combined to discourage and abolish it, and 
nearly every State passed laws to prohibit it. Nor did South Carolina 
hesitate to purify her people and government from that crime. By sta- 
tute she prohibited the importation of slaves under severe penal- 
ties. Yet, at the adoption of the Constitution, she was tenacious 
of retaining the trade until the year 1808, if her people choose to pur- 
sue it. And now her legislature repealed the law prohibiting the im- 
portation of slaves, and her slavedealers resumed the barbarous com- 
merce, which had been so long regarded as disgraceful to Christian 
nations. 

The attention of Congress was called to it. Members spoke of it in 
great sorrow; said that it would bring disgrace upon the nation ; refer- 
red to the scenes at that time transpiring in St. Domingo, and in plain 
and definite language assured the people of South Carolina that they 
were preparing for a renewal of those scenes among the people of that 
State. They declared slavery to be a, war upon human nature and in 
perpetual hostility to Christian civilization. Maryland, a slave State 
through her legislature, called on Congress to propose to the States such 
amendments of the Federal Constitution as would forever abolish the 
traffic in human flesh. But no efficient action was taken upon the sub- 
ject. 

The purchase of the vast territory called Louisiana, and the es- 
tablishmeut of a territorial government therein, now occupied much 
of the time of Congress. Southern statesmen had looked to this trans- 
action as a means for extending the slave interest and increasing the 
slave power even before the adoption of the Federal Constitution. In- 
deed, it was debated in the Virginia convention called to express the con- 
sent of that State to the adoption of the Federal compact. 

The purchase was made under Mr. Jefferson's administration as a mat- 
ter of necessity in order to secure the great commercial advantages of 
the Mississippi, the President admitting at the time that there was no 
constitutional authority in the Federal Government to acquire territory, 
but he declared that it were better to make the purchase when the op- 
portunity to do so offered, and trust to Congress and the people the duty 
of so amending the Constitution as to render the purchase legal. Thus 
the first extension of slavery by the United States was admitted by the 
Executive to be unconstitutional. 

The treaty of purchase stipulated that the inhabitants should be 
" admitted to the Union with all the rights, advantages, and immuni- 
3 



34 AFRICAN AND AMERICAN SLAVE TBADE. 

ties of citizens of the United States ;" and this provision was construed 
to guarantee the right of holding slaves. But the people of the free 
States do not appear to have been conscious of the evils resulting from 
this extension of the slave power until a few months subsequently to the 
ratification of the treaty, when a ship with a full cargo of African slaves 
landed at New Orleans, and sold her human chattels with perfect impu- 
nity, to the amazement and horror of all who held the doctrines of uni- 
versal liberty. 

The people of the free States now awoke to the fact that the money 
of the nation had been paid for the purchase of a slave market where the 
hucksters in human flesh could pursue their vocation. 

A large meeting assembled in Philadelphia to express the feeling ex- 
cited by this outrage upon our character as a nation. It was attended 
by the most respectable men of Pennsylvania, and was styled " The 
American Convention for the abolition of Slavery and Improvement of 
the African Race." A memorial was adopted requesting Congress to pass 
a law prohibiting the importation of slaves into Louisiana. Congress 
received the petition with respect and passed the desired law. 

While South Carolina was engaged in importing Africans to 
that State for the purpose of retaining them in perpetual and de- 
grading bondage, the Africans of Tripoli were engaged in seizing and 
enslaving Americans, and holding. them in servitude less barbarous. The 
States of Barbary had long practised the capture and enslavement of 
Americans, whom they usually released for a definite ransom of about 
fifteen hundred dollars. But the Africans enslaved by South Carolina 
were never held subject to ransom. They were slaves for life, and their 
descendants after them. The American held by the Mohammedans of 
Tripoli was always made free whenever he embraced the religion of the 
country; while the African, on embracing the Christian religion, was 
regarded as a more valuable slave than before. And whenever the fe- 
male slave of a Mohammedan bore issue to her master, both mother and 
child were made free ; while in our slave States the master often sold 
his own offspring and the mother of his children to interminable servitude 
in another State. Yet, although our people were held in a bondage far 
less degrading than that to which the Africans were doomed in our 
slave States, the Government did not hesitate to make war on Tripoli. 
A naval force was sent there, and our American citizens were redeemed 
from African bondage at the cannon's mouth. The civilized nations of 
the world fully justified the proceeding, and the semi-barbarians of Tri- 
poli were usually denounced as " pirates" in consequence of their enslav 
Log the Christians of other countries ; while South Carolina, professing 



ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 35 

to be a Christian State, was engaged in seizing the heathens of Africa 
and holding them in perpetual servitude. 

The condition of the District of Columbia attracted much at- ri80 - 
tention in Congress. Propositions to retrocede that portion which 
lay in the State of Virginia were brought forward and debated at great 
length. The real difficulty, however, was apparently kept out of sight 
ao far as it could be conveniently, until, on the 18th of January, when 
Mr. Sloan, of New Jersey, presented a resolution declaring that from 
and after the 4th July, a.d. 1805, all black and mulatto people born in 
the District of Columbia of slave mothers should be free. Thi3 move- 
ment became memorable as the first direct attempt to give liberty to the 
slaves of our National Metropolis. The resolution occasioned no debate,- 
but was sustained by the votes of Messrs. Alexander, Williams and 
Wynn, of North Carolina ; Archer, of Maryland, and Wilson, of Ken- 
tucky, all of whom were from slave States ; while Messrs. Hunt andTen- 
ny, of New Hampshire ; Cutter, of Massachusetts ; Davenport, Griswould 
and Goddard, of Connecticut ; Lyon and Olin, of Vermont ; Riker, 
Thomas, Van Courtland, Van Renselaer, and Verplank, of New York ; 
Boyd and Elmer, of New Jersey, and Hoge, of Pennsylvania, voted 
against the resolution, which was lost by seventy-seven against and thirty- 
one in favor of its adoption. 

The people of the Island of St. Domingo had been set free by fl8M 
a decree of the French Chamber of Deputies, and they rejoiced 
when the chains of bondage were stricken from their limbs. But when 
the French government attempted to reenslave them, they gallantly de- 
fended their liberties, setting at defiance the armies of France, and giving 
to the world conclusive proof that they loved liberty and possessed the 
gallantry to defend it. The slave power now sympathized with France, 
while the lovers of liberty could not restrain their ardent prayers for the 
success of the people of Hayti. An attempt to introduce a bill suspend- 
ing commercial intercourse with that island had brought the attention of 
the House of Representatives to the subject during the previous year ; 
but that body refused leave for its introduction. The bill was again 
presented during the year 1806, and called forth more angry debate than 
any other subject at that session. Some northern Representatives could 
not consent to prohibit the people of Boston from the rich commerce with 
that island in order to keep the slaves of the Sonth in ignorance of the 
gallant efforts of their brethren in St. Domingo on behalf of liberty; but 
tbe bill passed by a vote of ninety-two to twenty-six.* 

• This law remained In force until 1862. 



36 SLAVE TRADE PROHIBITED. 

In the Senate there was little opposition to the bill except from 
Hon. John Quincy Adams. He opposed its passage, and gave evidence 
of that love of justice and liberty which characterized his subsequent 
life. 

The advocates of slavery in Indiana again petitioned Congress to sus- 
pend the operation of the sixth article of the ordinance of 178?, which 
prohibited slavery in our northwestern territory. The petition was signed 
by the Governor sfnd Legislative Council. But the Quakers of that terri- 
tory foresaw that a suspension of the prohibition of slavery, if granted, 
would naturally become perpetual, and the institution once established, 
would not be easily eradicated. They sent to Congress their remon- 
strances, numerously signed, protesting in the name of humanity against 
any suspension of the rights of human nature in that territory. 

The petitions and remonstrances were referred to a select committee 
of the Senate and promptly reported upon. The committee unanimously 
rejected the proposition to introduce slavery into the territory. In the 
House of Representatives the committee reported a bill suspending the 
prohibition of slavery for ten years ; but it was never called up for 
action. 

It was well understood throughout the nation that the framers 

180T 1 

of the Constitution expected and intended the prohibition of the 
African slave trade at the earliest moment allowed by that instrument. 
The Christian world expected it, and a bill for that purpose was intro- 
duced in the Senate by Mr. Bradley, of Vermont. It met with very little 
opposition, was passed and sent to the House for concurrence. In that 
body difficulties and delays attended it. Members looked upon it as an 
expression of the American people that the traffic was barbarous, while 
South Carolina and Georgia were supporting and maintaining it. But 
the bill passed, to take effect on the first day of January, a.d. 1808, 
this being the earliest time at which the inhibition could constitutionally 
take effect. 

By the ninth and tenth sections of this act, ample provisions were 
made for protecting the coastwise slave trade, which proved not less 
barbarous in its character than the foreign traffic. 

Perhaps the arrogance and barbarism of South Carolina was never 
more strikingly illustrated than in the efforts of her people and statesmen 
to obtain a modification of this act, so far as to permit her slave ships 
which should fail to return before the 1st of January, 1808, to bring 
their cargoes of humanity to that State with impunity after the act 
should take effect. . 

Numerous memorials for that object were presented to the House of 



PETITION DISCARDED. 37 

Representatives by Mr. Marion, who moved their reference to a select 

committee. 

Mr. Masters, of New York, declared, " If there be a subject on which 
petitions ought not to be received, it must be that of the slave trade." 
And a majority of the House agreed with him, and the petitions were 
rejected. 



38 v PRIMAL RIGHTS DISREGARDED. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE DEVOTION OF CONGRESS TO THE INTERESTS OF SLAVERY CONTINUED— 

A SLAVEHOLDING GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED IN ARKANSAS AN ATTEMPT 

TO ESTABLISH SLAVERY IN MISSOURI DEFEATED. 

1808 Fourteen years bad now elapsed since the Federal Government 
assumed the power of legislating in favor of slavery. During 

that time Congress provided for the arrest and return of fugitive slaves, 
established slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia, pro- 
vided for the coastwise slave trade, and had added the vast slave 
territory of Louisiana to the Union. 

In the enactment of these statutes, we do not find that any mem- 
ber quoted the doctrines laid down by all publicists, "that enact- 
ments against the natural rights of mankind art void; that they 
possess no element of law." But so far as we learn from the debates, 
members felt themselves authorized to legislate for the destruction of 
human life and human liberty, as well as to secure the enjoyment of those 
prerogatives. In no instance do we find that members quoted the 
Declaration of Independence, which so beautifully declares that govern- 
ments are instituted among men to secure life, liberty, and happiness : 
nor do they appear to have even consulted that clause in the Constitu- 
tion which declares that " no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or 
property without due process of law." These doctrines, though plain and 
obvious at the present day, and not less so to the signers of the Decla- 
ration of Independence and to the framers of the Constitution, were 
most obviously in advance of the general intelligence of that day. 
They had been adopted by no other government, and do not appear to 
have been generally understood by the American people. 

1809 ^' ie P u ^ nc attention was now occupied with our increasing diffi- 
culties with England, which were gradually approximating a war 

with that formidable power ; and, in the excitement attendant upon this 

conviction, Congress appeared to have lost sight of the subject of slavery 

for a time. 

Manv slaves were leaving Georgia. Some fled to the " Okefe- 
1810.] J ° ° 

noke Swamps." Others found their way to the settlement of 

colored people on the " Appalachicola " River, and others settled in 

various parts of Florida. The planters were greatly anuoyed by this 



GEORGIA WAR FOR SLAVERY. 39 

exodus of their bondmen. The authorities of that State raised an army, 
and placing its Adjutant-General at the head, sent it to Florida in search 
of slaves. The negroes and Indians combined in defence of their country ; 
aud gathered whatever forces they could upon so sudden an emer- 
gency, hung upon the flanks and rear of the retreating foe, cutting 
off his men in detail. The army suffered for want of provisions, by sick- 
ness and by constant attacks, during the whole of its retreat, and many 
a Georgian who left that State with high expectations of capturing fugi- 
tive slaves, never returned to his native land. 

Georgia next became clamorous in favor of obtaining Florida, which 
had long been an asylum for fugitive slaves. She importuned Con- 
gress to take possession of it by military force, although our nation 
was then at peace with Spain. Congress acted upon the subject 
in secret session, but directed the Executive to send a force to take } 
session of the territory. General Mathews, of Georgia, was placed in 
command. He took possession of Amelia Island, lying upon its eastern 
coast, which soon became a rendezvous for African slavedealers, for South 
American privateers, and for pirates. 

The Spanish Government complained of this outrage upon her 
territory, aud the American Executive, on behalf of his Govern- 
ment, disclaimed the act, representing it as unauthorized ; but Mathews 
continued to hold possession of the island, which came to be regarded as 
a general depot for the importation of African slaves, who were from 
thence taken to various slave States and sold. 

The attention of the people of Georgia appears to have been 
directed more to the conquest of Florida, duriug the war with 
Great Britain, than to the defence of the nation or to the conquest of 
Canada, which then occupied the thoughts of the people of the free 
States. While the men of Ohio were serving in the northwestern 
army, protecting the people from the savages who hung upon our border, 
those of Georgia were engaged in " establishing a depot for African 
slaves on Amelia Island." 

Our treaty of peace with Great Britain contained a stipulation 
similar to that of 1783 ; by which His Britannic Majesty agreed tl8M ' 
to withdraw his armies and fleets from the territories and waters of the 
United States, without destroying or carrying away any ordnance stores, 
or slaves, or other private property. The tenth article was expressed in 
the following language :— " Whereas the traffic in slaves is irreconcilable 
with the principles of humanity and justice : and whereas both His 
Majesty and the United States are desirous of continuing their efforts to 
promote its entire abolition, it is hereby agreed that both the contract- 



40 



TREATY OF GHENT. 



ing parties shall use their best endeavors to accomplish so desirable an 
object." Ihe treaty was negotiated and signed on the part of the 
United States by John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russel, 
James A. Bayard, and Albert Gallatin ; and, on the part of Great 
Britain by Lord Gambier, Henry Goulborn, and William Adams. It 
unquestionably spoke the language then held by the great mass of people 
iu both England and the United States. 

1815.] While the people of Georgia were maintaining a depot for 

African slaves at Amelia Island, the Algerines were again cap- 
turing and enslaving American citizens ; and the United States now 
entered upon a second war, to defend our people from, slaveholding 
violence by the States of Barbary. 

There was a strong disposition manifested in Congress against an open 
war on account of slavery, as it appeared to call in question the rectitude 
of those States who held slaves. Indeed, for a time, the Government 
redeemed our citizens from Algerine slavery at the rate of three thousand 
dollars for each slave. But the representatives of New England resisted 
this dishonorable submission ; and, when our nation concluded a peace 
with England, it declared war with Algiers, and sent a naval force for 
the liberation of people who had been enslaved on African soil. The 
Dey of Algiers, seeing this manifestation of earnestness on our part, con- 
cluded a treaty of peace, liberated all American slaves, and bound him- 
self to demand no more tribute from American ships. 
1816 , At the close of the war with England, it was found that indi- 

viduals had lost property during the war, by acts of our own 
troops. Some had furnished teams for the transportation of troops, pro- 
visions, etc. The teams were sometimes taken by the enemy, sometimes 
destroyed by our own troops to prevent their falling into the enemy'g 
hands. A bill was reported to Congress providing compensation in those 
cases ; and,- while it was under debate, a member from South Carolina 
moved an amendment providing compensation for slaves lost or destroyed 
in the public service. He argued that slaves were property, that some 
were killed and others had died of disease, and he thought the masters 
entitled to compensation as well as the owners of other property. 

Mr. M'Coy, of Virginia, opposed the amendment, saying that " our 
Government had never regarded slaves as property." The amendment 
was lost, only thirty-two members rising in favor of it.* 

This constituted the first effort after the adoption of the Constitution 



* Vide the " National Intelligencer" of that date. Also, the Report of the Committee on Claims 
in ease of Francis Larch. H. R., 1335. 



RANDOLPH DENOUNCES THE SLAVE TRADE. 41 

to establish the heathenish dogma that men with intellects, clustering 
with immortal hopes, can be reduced to the level of brutes, and thereby 
transformed into property. The barbarous idea had been entertained 
amid the moral darkness of former ages, and had descended with the 
institution, but now found utterance in an American Congress for the 
first time. 

An interesting incident occurred in the House of Representatives on 
the 1st March. John Randolph, of Roanoke, in the State of Virginia, 
a man of unusual ability but of some eccentricity of character, arose, 
and, stating that it was his intention to move instructions to the com- 
mittee on the District of Columbia, said, "I invoke the House to put a 
fit op to proceedings at this moment carried on under our noses ; a prac- 
tice not surpassed for abomination in any part of the world not even 

upon the rivers on the African coast is there so great and so nefarious a 
slave-market as in this metropolis, the very seat of government of this 
nation, which prides itself on freedom. It is not necessary (said he) 
that this city shoald be made a depot for slaves who are bought from 
cruel masters or kidnapped ; and of those kidnapped there are two kinds 
those stolen from their masters, and free persons stolen from themselves. 
It is not necessary that we should have a depot for this nefarious traffic, 
in comparison with which the traffic from Africa to Charleston or 
Jamaica is a merry— a virtue. Indeed, there can be no comparison be- 
tween taking these E from their native wilds, and tearing the 
cwilized and informed negro, habituated to civilized life, from his master, 
his friends, his tcife, his children, his parents. I have (said he) this day 
heard a horrible fact from a respectable gentleman : a poor negro, by 
hard work, and by saving his allowance, laid by money enough to pur- 
chase the freedom of his wife and child. The poor fellow died, and the 
next day the woman and child were sold. I was mortified at being told by 
a foreigner of high rank, • You call this a land of liberty, and every day 
things are done in it at which the despotisms of Europe would be horror- 
struck and disgusted. ,' " 

No sketch which the writer could give would convey to the reader 
a more accurate idea of the slave trade at that time carried on, not only 
in Washington City, but in all the cities of the northern slave States. 
Indeed, it is from the speeches made in Congress, and the statements 
made in memorials sent to that body by Quakers and others, that we 
are enabled to state facts which current historians have failed to notice, 
and which the editors of newspapers of that day dared not speak. 

The slaveholders then sitting in the hall listened to the words of the 
eccentric Virginian in silence : no member denied that free negroes 



42 FREE NEGKOES ENSLAVED. 

were kidnapped as he had declared ; nor did any one attempt to modify 
his statements except Mr. Wright, of Maryland, who said there was 
worse slavery in Europe. 

The motion was carried without opposition, the committee was 
appointed : Mr. Randolph was chairman, and reported the facts very 
much as stated ; but he was able to go no farther. 

In accordance with the statement of Mr. Randolph, the Quakers of 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland sent memorials to Congress, 
setting forth that free negroes in those States were seized frequently by 
men pretending to arrest them under the fugitive slave act, and when 
once in custody of the slave-catchers, were carried South, and sold to 
interminable bondage : that others, admitted to be free, were stealthily 
seized, bound, carried away, and sold to slavery ; and the memorialists 
earnestly prayed Congress to pass such laws as would efficiently protect 
those unoffending and friendless people. 

But the difficulty lay in the popular mind. Men in public and in 
private life, in the South and in the North, regarded these people as 
designed for servitude by the Creator, and that they, in fad, "possessed 
no rights that white men were bound to respect."* 

The clergy frequently taught these doctrines from the pulpit, and few 
men had the moral courage to avow doctrines directly hostile to the 
interests of the South and the theology of the North. The Quakers had 
ever dissented from the general theology, and were rather a despised peo- 
ple in the estimation of slaveholders, and of those northern men who 
seemed to regard southern statesmen as authorized to give tone to the 
morals as well as the politics of the northern States. 

Under these circumstances, Congress appears to have paid little atten- 
tion to the petitions of the Quakers and philanthropists in regard to the 
kidnapping of free negroes. 

1817 , At the opening of the second session of the fourteenth Congress, 
the President in his annual message called attention to certain de- 
fects in the law prohibiting the foreign slave trade. The Quakers of the 
middle States also petitioned Congress for such amendments of existing 
laws as would prevent the foreign slave trade and protect the free negroes 
then residing in those States. The memorials and the President's mes- 
sage were respectfully referred to appropriate committees; but no reports 
were made thereon. 

101Q , The President in his first annual message to the fifteenth Con- 
gress, again urged upon the consideration of that body those de- 

* This language was used by the Supreme Court forty years subsequently, in case of Dred Scott. 



6LAVE TRADE CONTINUED. 43 

fects in the law prohibiting the slave trade which rendered it entirely 
inefficient; and he also referred to the fact that Amelia Island, on the 
coast of Florida, continued to be a depot where African slaves were 
landed, and from that island were brought to the United States and sold 
to planters in violation of existing laws. 

Mr. Burrell, a senator from Rhode Island, moved to instruct the com- 
mittee on commerce to report such amendments to the law prohibiting 
the foreign slave trade as would render it efficient, aud to inquire into 
the propriety of uniting with other nations in proper efforts to abolLsh 
the " traffic in slaves."* 

Mr. Troup, of Georgia, not only objected to entering into arrange- 
ments with any foreign nation for suppressing the slave trade, but he was 
entirely opposed to any inquiry in relation to such union of effort, and 
was sustained by other" parties from the South ; yet, on this occasion 
the North was not silent. 

Mr. Morril, of New Hampshire, said that we called ourselves a Chris 
tian nation; but our character was deeply affected by the inefficiency of 
our laws against the slave trade. lie regarded the objections against 
the motion as unimportant. 

Hon. Rufus King, of New York, a senator of great experience and in- 
fluence, declared that in negotiating and approving tlu v treaty of Ghent, 
the Executive and Senate had committed themselves to the abolition of 
the "traffic in slaves." This pledge had been given in concert with Great 
Britain, and he could see no objection to the United States acting in con- 
cert with England for the destruction of this curse from the earth. 

The motion of Mr. Burrell was sustained. The committee reported a 
bill amending the act prohibiting the slave trade, and it passed the Sen- 
ate and was sent to the House for concurrence. 

In that body a bill had been reported, providing for breaking up 
the slave trade on Amelia Island. These two bills were united in one 
by the House; the Senate agreed to this amendment, and the bill became 
a law. 

The historian of the present age finds himself astonished on , 1818 
looking over the petitions of Quakers and philanthropists sent to 
Congress at the period of which we are writing. They appear to de- 
monstrate the perfect unconsciousness of public men, that mankind are 
morally responsible for oppressions and outrages committed upon the 
colored race. Indeed, southern statesmen showed no evidence that they 



* Fifty-five years subsequently -o thia motion, the United States entered into treaty arrangements 
with Great Britain for suppressi:.;j the slave trade. 



44 SOUTHERN DOCTRINES AVOWED. 

believed in the moral responsibility attached to the treatment of colored 
people. 

From the enactment of the fugitive slave act* to the period of which 
we are writing, that act was prostituted to the purposes of arresting and 
carrying free, colored persons into bondage. These outrages upon our com- 
mon humanity were complained of year after year by the Quakers in 
their annual petitions sent to Congress, while little attention was paid to 
them by our public servants. 

These memorials were presented to the fifteenth Congress at its first 
session in greater numbers than usual. In the Senate they were respect- 
fully referred, and by the committees to whom they were confided were 
entoombed in perpetual silence: while in the House of Representatives a 
bill to amend the fugitive act and render it more efficient, was presented 
and received the most respectful consideration; yet we can find no peti- 
tions on file or referred to in the jourual of that body asking such amend- 
ments. The bill, however, was subjected to debate. While it was under 
consideration, amendments were offered securing free negroes from arrest 
under it ; but these were rejected. Northern members appeared to be 
stimulated by the rejection of these amendments to declare that free per- 
sons of color were and had long been arrested under color of this fugitive 
act, and when once in custody of the professional slave-catcher, were car- 
ried South and sold to interminable bondage ; and some members went so 
far as to say that Congress ought not to legislate in favor of slavery, as 
the institution itself was a violation of natural justice, essentially barbar- 
ous in its character. "j* 

To these remarks southern men replied, asserting the very extraordi- 
nary doctrine that, " it was immaterial -whether slavery were right or 
wrong ; that Congress had no authority to inquire into its character, as 
the Constitution had recognized it and Congress was bound to support it, 

WHATEVER CRIMES MIGHT BE INCIDENT TO ITS CONTINUANCE." 

It is worthy of note that this constituted the first instance in which it 
was openly asserted that Congress was bound to sustain the institution of 
slavery, either in the States or anywhere else. 

Nor was it less extraordinary that members of Congress or other 
intelligent men should assert the duty or the power of Congress or other 
legislative bodies to enact laws authorizing or professing to authorize 

* The writer has ever adhered to the theory of European and American publicists and philoso- 
phers, which denies the character of law to those human enactments which invade the natural 
rights of mankind to life and liberty ; they possess no element of law. 

t Twenty years subsequently the writer enunciated the same doctrine in the House of Represen- 
tatives, for which he was declared to be a most radical reformer, putting forth doctrines that n-o 
othor mar. had ever uttered. 



SOUTHEBN COMPLAINTS. 45 

crimes condemned by the laws of the Creator, and hated by mankind. 
This infidelity, so revolting to Christian civilization, was not met and ex- 
posed by northern men. It was listened to with apparent astonishment 
and was actually sustained by northern votes.* 

The bill, after a warm debate, passed the House by a large majority • 
the following members from the free States voting for it, to wit • 
Messrs. Mason, Ruggles and Wilson, of Massachusetts ; Con^e'r, Drake' 
Elliot, Hubbard, Palmer, Spencer, Storrs and Taylor, of New York • 
Smith, Southard and Bloomfield, of New Jersey ; Edwards, Mart-hand' 
Moore, Patterson and Porter, of Pennsylvania, and Harrison, of Ohio' 
New BampBhire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Indiana fur- 
nished no vote in favor of the bill, which was sent to the Senate for con- 
currence, in that body the debate was more protracted, and conducted 
with more spirit. Mr. Morril, of New Hampshire, declared the institu- 
tion of slavery to be " barbarous." This brought out Mr. Smith 
of South Carolina, who attempted its elaborate vindication ; declaring 
it based upon the Divine will. Members of the House from slave Stat4 
appeared to have admitted the institution to be wrong, and even crim- 
inal, but Senator Smith declared it to be just and humane. He also 
denounced Mr. Pitt, who had urged in the British Parliament that 
governments were bound to act justly toward their individual sub- 
jects. He next assailed Messrs. Adams, Clay, Bayard, Gallatin, and 
Russel, who negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, for declaring the " traffic 
in slaves to be contrary to the principles of humanity and justice " 

He then turned his attention to the people of the free States, char»ed 
them with intentions to abolish the institution in the southern States • 
said that was the object of those who wished to unite with Great Britain 
m efforts to abolish the African slave trade. He complained of English 
and American writers who spoke against the slave trade and slavery 
and of those who termed slaveholders "kidnappers," « men- stealer s » and 
"soul-drivers" He stated the object of certain pamphlets and publica- 
tions was to deprive the master of his property. He then declared that 
the Constitution had given the master the right to seize his slave and 
carry him back to the State from whence he had escaped 

After this debate the bill was amended, made more stringent, giving 
the slave-catcher more power to seize and enslave free persons than 
when it came to the Senate ; being thus amended, it was returned 
to the House in order that the amendments might be concurred in. 

*l T lz^z^r t r ntua,ly so far corrupted by the *—**-*■•*—* 

men appeared to forget that human governments were limited to the mpport of, and possessed 
no legitimate powers to destroy human rights. possessed 



4:6 FIRST SEMINOLE WAK. 

On its final passage in the Senate, Messrs. Otis, of Massachusetts, 
Sandford, of New York, and Taylor, of Indiana, voted for it. But the 
House was not prepared to sustain the doctrine nor the amendments of 
the Senate. The members refused to concur, and the bill was lost. 
J818 , This year was rendered somewhat historic in "the regime of 

slavery," by the first Seminole war. The people of the free 
States generally believed it had arisen from depredations committed by 
the Seminole Indians. But it is believed that no historian or member 
of Congress gave the people accurate knowledge respecting the causes 
of a war which excited much debate and controversy touching some of 
its incidents. 

As the reader has already been informed, early as 1705, slaves left 
their masters in South Carolina, and fled through the Indian Territory 
to Florida, and settled on the Appalachicola River long before Georgia 
was a colony. Their numbers were undoubtedly increased by fugitives 
from Georgia and Louisiana ; and, as already stated, Georgia made au 
attempt for their capture in 1811 and 1812.* 

During the then recent war with Great Britain, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Nichols, of the British army, was sent to that part of Florida to act as 
British agent for the Seminole Indians. He had a small force with him, 
and erected a fort upon the banks of the river, on which he mounted 
eight cannon, and placed large military stores in its magazine. He 
also collected provisions from the surrounding settlements of colored 
people, f 

At the close of the war, Colonel Nichols, with his small force, aban- 
doned the fort, with its stores and military supplies, and returned to 
England. The negroes took possession,, considering it a safe refuge 
from the people of Georgia, should they send another expedition for 
their capture. 

General Gaines was in the immediate command of our army on the 
southern line of Georgia, and General Jackson, residing in Tennessee, 
was in command of the whole southern military district. 

In 1816, General Jackson ordered General Gaines to send a force 
to destroy the fort, capture the negroes and return them to slavery. 
Colonel Clynch, with his regiment of regulars and five hundred Indians, 
was detailed for that duty. They were also met by two gunboats from 
Mobile Bay, sent to cooperate with the land forces. As our army 

* The author published a volumo, in 1S5T, entlUed " The Exilea of Florida," which gives tho entire 
history of these people up to that date. 

t Monett, in his History of the Valley of the Mississippi, says : " The negro setUements extended 
twenty-five miles above and an equal distance below the fort." 



MASSACRE AT BLOUNt's FOET. 47 

approached, the people fled from their plantations to the interior. Some 
three hundred, however, took refuge in the fort, with twelve or fifteen 
Indians. The gunboats opened upon the fort with heated shot, which 
reached the magazine, and in the explosion, two hundred and seventy 
human beings instantaneously fell a sacrifice to that spirit of despotism 
which controlled the Government of the United States.* The scenes 
of mangled bodies, the groans of the dying, the horror-stricken sur- 
vivors, should have satisfied those who had been employed in perpetrating 
the murder of these unoffending people ; and no proof short of official 
documents would have constrained the writer to record the revolting 
fact, that two of the survivors were delivered over to the Indians to 
satisfy their thirst for blood, and were massacred with savage cruelty 
within the walls of the fort, and in the presence of our troops. 

This was the commencement of the first Seminole war. The negroes 
determined on that revenge which constitutes the religion of savages. 
They at once commenced providing arms and ammunition and saving 
provisions, which were transferred to the interior. This precaution and 
preparation gave them influence with their Indian neighbors, whom they 
held in check until all were in a condition to engage in war. More than 
a year was spent in preparing for hostilities. 

In November, 1817, Lieutenant Scott, with forty men, while escorting 
two boats up Flint River, was attacked by some sixty negroes and 
Indians, and, with his party, was massacred. This massacre aroused the 
nation. It was pronounced savage and barbarous, as it really was ; yet 
it was perpetrated in revenge for the massacre of more than seven time3 
that number of their people by our troops, without cause. 

General Jackson was at once ordered to the field. Our army was 
immediately marched into Florida, and directed their course towards the 
Suwanee towns. Here was a large negro population. The towns were 
also difficult of access. One of these villages was the residence of the 
chief of the negroes, and their whole force was collected for defence. 
The Indians also gathered all their warriors to act in concert with the 
negroes. A bloody battle was fought. The negroes maintained their 
ground manfully until General Jackson brought his reserve into action. 
Indeed, they did not even fall back until the Indians fled, and our troops 
were rapidly gathering around their flanks. They then fell back, and 
were pursued by a portion of our troops ; but made another stand, and 
ag- Mil fought more desperately than at first. But reinforcements coming 

• Monett says that six thousand barrels of powder and three thousand stands of arms were 
detsii yed by this explosion, and that another magazine, containing one hundred and sixty barrels 
at powder, was left uninjured. 



48 GALLANTRY OF NEGROES. 

up, they again gave way, leaving eighty of their number dead on the 
field.* 

General Jackson, in his official report, gave credit to the enemy, 
admitting their courage and gallantry. But no benefits resulted from 
this loss of fife. Our troops were in the interior, their provisions were 
nearly exhausted, and they fully expected to find supplies at these towns; 
but were disappointed. A small quantity of corn only fell into their 
hands. The provisions, the negro women and children, had been removed 
far into the interior, and the commanding general was compelled to return 
to his depots for the purpose of sustaining his army. 

When General Jackson issued his order for the destruction of the 
" Negro fort," he directed the troops to capture the fugitive slaves and 
return them to their masters. Some fifteen or twenty, most of whom 
were wounded, fell into the hands of Colonel Clynch, and were carried 
back to Georgia and sold ; but these were the only colored men captured 
during the war, which had been undertaken solely for the return of fugi- 
tive slaves, and for breaking up their haunts in Florida. 

It is not our purpose to write a history of this first war, undertaken 
by our Government for the benefit of slavery. It occasioned much 
debate in Congress. Southern members became excited ; declared the 
war to have been commenced by the Indians, and asserting that Florida 
had become an asylum for fugitive slaves ; insisted that it must be 
broken up either by conquest or purchase of the territory. Hon. Charles 
Fenton Mercer, of Virginia, an experienced member of Congress, of great 
integrity of purpose, moved a resolution, calling on the President for 
such information as he possessed, " touching the destruction of the Negro 
fort on the Appalachicola River." 

In response to this resolution, the Secretary of War transmitted a 
history of that transaction, embracing more than a hundred documentary 
pages, from which we have selected the facts now placed before the 
reader. The volume itself reposes in the alcoves of our national library, 
containing an account of one of the most barbarous incidents in "the 
regime of slavery ;" and constituting an episode in the great drama of 
moral and political events which usually make up the history of nations. 

The Government had now been twice engaged in war with the Bar- 
bary States to put down slavery, and to release our citizens from bond- 
age ; and once with the Seminoles for the capture of slaves and encour- 
agement of the institution. Thus were the people of the free States 

* General Jackson, in his official report, says nothing of this second battle. Indeed, it is evident 
that he regarded the whole as constituting one battle : while Williams, in his " History of Florida," 
and Monett, in his " Valley of the Mississippi," give full details of two apparently distinct battle*. 



DEMAND FOE DEPORTED SLAVES. 49 

made to shed their blood and spend their wealth, both for and against 
oppression, as the slave power dictated. 

Members of Congress, feeling that the real cause of this war had not 
been published, introduced resolutions making inquiry on that subject. 
They were sent to appropriate committees, who reported that the war 
had arisen from Indian barbarities committed on the frontiers of Georgia, 
but made no allusion to the massacre at " Blount's Fort." In these re- 
ports, the fact that fugitive slaves were engaged in the war appears inci- 
dentally ; but when the subject came under debate, no speaker appears to 
have been willing to declare that the blood and treasure of the nation 
had been expended for the capture and enslavement of negroes.* 

Certain persons from New Orleans and vicinity now sent their ri81 ^ 
memorials to Congress, setting forth that, when the British army 
retired from that city, in 1815, they carried away a large number of 
slaves, and prayed indemnity from the public treasury for their loss. The 
petitions being referred to the Committee on Claims, were transmitted to 
the Secretary of State, who returned them with a full report, setting forth 
that demands had been made on Great Britain for compensation under 
the treaty of Ghent ; that the British ministry had given a different 
construction to the treaty ; that the two Governments could not agree ; 
and that the United States had proposed a reference of the question to 
some friendly power. The Committee reported these facts to the House 
of Representatives, and although members of that body must have been 
fully apprised of the efforts that were being put forth by the Executive 
to commit our Government still further to the protection of slavery, yet 
no one suggested a doubt as to the propriety, or denied the constitution- 
ality of that policy. 

. It is, at this day, difficult to account for this silence on the part of 
northern representatives. The city of Buffalo had been burned by the 
enemy ; amid the inclemency of winter, its people were driven from their 
dwellings, which, with their furniture and property, • were consumed, and 
they were left homeless and penniless, dependent upon the charity of the 
surrounding country* The Executive made no effort for their relief; 
and, when they called on Congress, that body, in strict accordance with 
the usages of nations, refused all indemnity, holding that their's were the 
misfortunes of tear, which no nation could avert or compensate. Yet 
the representatives from New York, and even from the city which had 
thus been laid in ashes, now silently lent their approbation to the policy 

* The author was at that time a young man, and a reader of political news, but ho bad no 
conception of the causes of the first Seminole war until he became a urmber of Congress twe»ty 
ye*re subsequently. 

4 



50 SLAVE INTEREST CONTROLS THE GOVERNMENT. 

of involving the national honor, and influence to obtain indemnity for the 
loss of slaves from a southern city whose people and habitations had 
been carefully and gallantly defended by the freemen of other States. 

The treaty of Ghent contains nearly the same language as that of 
1783, and Great Britain was under no more obligation to compensate 
for the slaves who fled from New Orleans than she was to pay for 
those who fled to her army in 1783. But Washington, and Jay, and 
Hamilton had departed to their rest, and the slave power now ruled the 
nation. The Executive pressed these claims for slaves upon the conside- 
ration of the British Government, obtained a reference of the subject to 
the Emperor of Russia, who, of course, decided in favor of that despotism 
for which the Russian Czar must have felt much sympathy. Much Con- 
gressional legislation was had on the subject, conventions and compacts 
were negotiated, and, after many years of effort, some twelve hundred 
thousand dollars were obtained from England, and most of it distributed 
among the claimants for the loss of fugitive bondmen. 
1819 , At the period to which we are now referring, the Government 

appears to have been controlled entirely by the supposed interests 
of slavery. Southern statesmen now boldly demanded the purchase of 
Florida. They were loud in their complaints against the Spanish 
Government, charging it with a want of energy and good faith in per- 
mitting Florida " to become the rendezvous for fugitive slaves," of " free- 
booters," of " slavedealers and pirates." The subject was referred to a 
committee, who reported that it was highly desirable to obtain possession 
of the territory, as it had become an " asylum for fugitive negroes," " a 
population whose existence was incompatible with southern prosperity '." It 
is due to the slaveholders of our southern States that the historian should 
say they were bold and frank in the avowal of their objects for obtaining 
Florida ; and the reason that the people of the free States were ignorant 
of this object was the silence of northern statesmen and the northern 
press in regard to it. Nor do we find that any objection was made to 
the proposed purchase by members of Congress from the free States. 
The purchase was consummated, and Florida became a part of the terri- 
tory of the United States. 

The entire devotion of our Government to the interests of slavery was 
further manifested in its treatment of the Spanish South American 
Provinces. They were at that time earnestly contending for freedom 
and independence as we had been in our Revolution. Adopting the doc- 
trines which we enunciated, they gave freedom to their slaves, declaring 
that the natural rights of mankind, bestowed upon each member of the 
human family by the Creator, lay above and behind the power of human 



SOTJTII AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS. 51 

governments, which, in the nature of tilings, could hold no legitimate 
authority to interfere with the life or liberty of innocent persons. 

The sympathy of the people of the free States was aroused in favor of 
our South American brethren, who were thus fighting the battles of the 
human race, while the feeling of southern politicians was equally strong 
in favor of the Spanish crown, who was endeavoring to hold not only 
the slaves but the citizens of those provinces in subjection. It became 
evident that the Executive also sympathized with the Spanish authorities 
rather than with the people of the provinces ; for some military adven- 
turers from England, having left their native laud, and bringing with 
them military stores, for the purpose of aiding those provinces in obtain- 
ing their liberty, landed at Philadelphia with the expectation of meeting 
a hearty sympathy from the people of the United States. They were 
doomed to sad disappointmeut. They were arrested by order of our 
Government and cast into prison, under pretence that they were violating 
the neutrality laws of the United States. 

Hon. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, was at this time Speaker of fl319 
the House of Representatives, and exerted great influence in 
Congress. He presented to that body a resolution upon the subject of 
the arrest and imprisonment of these men, and, in support of his proposi- 
tion, made one of the ablest speeches of his life. His whole soul ap- 
peared to be moved by a devotion to liberty — to the inalienable rights 
of mankind. His resolution was adopted, aud the patriotic Englishmen 
were released. 

The President, in his annual message, called attention of Congress to 
the inefficiency of the then existing law against the African slave trade. 
This portion of the message was referred to an appropriate committee, 
who reported a bill for the more perfect inhibition of that traffic. 
Southern statesmen made no opposition to its passage, except by quietly 
voting against it, without even demanding the yeas and nays upon its 
passage, evidently unwilling to make an issue upon a subject so odious. 

Perhaps no incidental question has created so much interest or excited 
so much debate in Congress as that of extending slavery. The Louisiana 
purchase included the country drained by the waters of the Mississippi and 
its tributaries, except so much as had been previously embraced within 
the United States. The State of Louisiana had been taken from the 
southern part of the region thus acquired, while the remainder was em- 
braced in the territory of Missouri. 

It was now proposed to divide this territory upon the line of , lgl3> 
36 deg. 30 min. north latitude, and organize a territorial govern- 
ment in that portion which lay between the State of Louisiana and 



52 ELAVEEY IN AEKAN8A8. 

the line just mentioned, west of the Mississippi and east of 84 deg. 
30 min. west longitude, under the name of the Arkansas territory ; and 
a bill for this purpose was presented in the House of Representatives. 

Mr. Taylor, of New York, proposed an amendment, declaring that all 
slaves born within said territory, after it should be admitted as a State, 
should become free at the age of twenty-five years. 

There was but little debate on this proposition, and it was sustained 
by a vote of seventy-five in the affirmative, to seventy in the negative. 
Messrs. Holmes and Shaw, of Massachusetts ; Conger and Storrs, of 
New York ; Bloomfield and Kinney, of New Jersey; Beecher and Harri- 
son, of Ohio ; Edwards and M'Kean, of Illinois, voted with the advocates 
of slavery extension. 

These ten northern members voted with those of the slave States, 
while Messrs. Williams, of North Carolina, and Hall, of Maryland, 
voted with the advocates of liberty. 

It will also be borne in mind that New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, were true to freedom- 
no vote from those States was given for the extension of slavery. 

But this vote appeared to strike southern members with surprise. 
They had evidently believed that no such proposition could be sustained. 
Mr. Williams, of North Carolina, moved a reconsideration of the vote, 
and now changed his position and voted with the slaveholders, together 
with Messrs. Newton and Colston, of Virginia ; Ringold, of Maryland, 
aud Walker, of Kentucky, who did not vote on the amendment. Mr. 
Johnson, of Virginia, having voted against the amendment, voted against 
the reconsideration. 

Messrs. Hale and TJpham, of New Hampshire ; Allen and Silsbee, of 
Massachusetts, and Mason, of Rhode Island, did not vote on the proposed 
amendment, but now voted against the reconsideration. In this manner 
sill the members who could with propriety attend the session are sup- 
posed to have voted according to the dictates of their consciences and 
judgments, showing seventy-seven members in favor of extending slavery 
into Arkansas and seventy-nine opposed to it. 

This result appears to have astonished southern members more than 
the previous vote, and Mr. Lownds, of South Carolina, expressing his 
surprise, moved to lay the bill on the table in order to call it up the next 
day at twelve o'clock, when he hoped that every member would be in his 
place. The House complied with his request. 

Accordingly, on the following day the bill was taken up, and Mr. 
Robertson, of Kentucky, moved to recommit the bill to a select commit- 
tee, with instructions to strike out the amendmont which had been in- 



MR. CLAY GIVES CASTING VOTE. 53 

scrted declaring all persons born after the admission of Arkansas a? a 
State should be free at the age of twenty-five years. On this question 
the same number of votes were cast as on the motion for reconsideration 
taken on the previous day, but there were now eighty-eight in the affirm- 
ative and eighty-eight in the negative. The vote of the Speaker (Mr. 
Clay) was now demanded by the rules of the House in order to decide 
the question. But that officer, who had so recently exhibited such ad- 
miration for freedom, now ingloriously yielded to the pressure of south- 
ern influence and voted in the affirmative.* 

This vote decided the whole question. Indeed, the subsequent vote, 
agreeing to the report of the committee striking out the amendment, was 
agreed to by ninety members to eighty-six who opposed it, Messrs. Bald- 
win, of Pennsylvania ; Campbell, of Ohio, and Whitman, of Massachusetts, 
voting with the slaveholders, and it became a maxim that southern 
members would always control enough northern votes to secure auy 
measure favorable to slavery. 

We have been particular in the details, connected with this first deci- 
sion of Congress in favor of extending slavery, though it is believed 
that few of those who then sanctioned this extension of barbarism were 
conscious of- the momentous interests involved in that contest. The de- 
bate upon it, however, was able and earnest, embracing nearly all the 
arguments which were brought forward on the various questions touch- 
ing the extension of slavery in subsequent years. 

When the bill reached the Senate, a motion was made so to amend it 
as to exclude slavery from the territory, but the motion was rejected, 
only fourteen members voting for it, while nineteen voted against 
it. Messrs. Edwards and Thomas, of Illinois, and Monroe, of Ohio, 
voting with the slaveholders. The bill passed the Senate and became a 
law. 

An incident of unusual interest occurred during this session of , lgl9 
Congress. A bill to authorize the people of Missouri Territory 
to form a constitution and State government was introduced in the 
House of Representatives. When it came under debate, Mr. Tall- 
madge, of New York, proposed an amendment declaring all persons born 
of slave mothers after admission of the State should be free at the age 
of twenty-five years. 

The debate on this proposition was rendered remarkable on account 
of the important principles, discussed, the interests involved, the precedent 

* The author has good authority for saying that Mr. Clay regretted this vote in subsequent life. 
Indeed, no man made stronger protestations against the extension of slavery than he did after- 
wards in the Senate of the United States. 



5 A SLAVERY IN MISSOURI AGITATED. 

established and the influence which it exerted upon subsequent legislation 
and the cause of Christian civilization. 

Southern statesmen had long locked upon the purchase of Louisiana, 
with its vast extent of territory, as certain. Slavery had already found 
existence in that portion which was then inhabited, and they had no 
doubt of its being extended over the whole, which at no distant day 
would furnish a large number of additional slave States, increasing the 
influence and political power of the institution. They had already secured 
a controlling influence in the Government, had defeated the attempt to 
establish freedom in Arkansas, and now entered upon the work of estab- 
lishing slavery in Missouri with great confidence. 

The statesmen of the free North entered upon the contest surrounded 
by many discouragements. Since 1793 the powers of Government had 
been exerted in favor of the institution. Northern members were con- 
servative. Mr. Clay, who was then exerting more influence, in Congress 
than any other member, had been looked to with much hope ; but he 
had lent his vote to establish slavery in Arkansas, and men of experi- 
ence entertained the opinion that he would do the same in regard to Mis- 
souri. But the free States were the most populous, and furnished the 
greatest number of Representatives. They had been educated in the 
love of liberty, and if true to the cause of freedom they would have pre- 
vailed. They knew that the Government had been founded upon prin- 
ciples of universal liberty, and they felt confident in the justice of their 
cause, and conscious of the responsibility resting upon them. 

On the motion of Mr. Tallmadge, northern members pointed out the 
evils of slavery, showed how its extension over Missouri would entail ig- 
norance, degradation and suffering upon its people ; that at some future 
day it would drench that fair land in blood. They referred to its inherent 
crimes, its barbarous character, and entire incompatibility with republican 
^principles. 

But the advocates of slavery would not discuss its moral character. 
Nor would they examine the primal truths enunciated by the founders 
of our Government. They dwelt altogether upon technicalities. They 
denied the right of Congress to reject a State whose Constitution admit- 
ted slavery. They assumed this as their predicate, without assigning 
reasons or explanation. On this assumption they rested all their argu- 
ments. 

And when this postulate was denied and its fallacy exposed, they ap- 
pear to have become irritated and had recourse to threats and intimida- 
tion. They spoke of "the ides of March," of the "fate of Caesar and 
of Home." They asserted that if northern members persisted in exclud- 



DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION THREATENED. 55 

ing slavery from the Territories, the Union would be dissolved. They 
insisted that northern members had already " kindled a fire which the 
waters of ocean could not extinguish." 

To this it was replied that if a dissolution of the Union must take 
place in consequence of maintaining freedom, "let it be so." " If blood 
were necessary to extinguish the love of liberty, it must flow." The ad- 
vocates of justice and freedom were ready to die in the cause which they 
advocated.* 

The debate was commenced on Mr. Tallraadge's proposition, on the 13th 
February, and continued until the 16th, when the vote was taken, and the 
amendment was adopted by 82 in the affirmative, to 78 in the negative. 

Mr. Smith, of Maryland, and Mr. Hall, of Delaware, being the only 
members from slave States who voted in favor of the amendment, while 
Messrs. Parrott, of New Hampshire; Holmes, Mason, and Shaw, of 
Massachusetts ; Mason, of Rhode Island ; Conger and Storrs, of New 
York ; Bloomfield and Kinney, of New Jersey; Beecher and Harrison, 
of Ohio, voted with the advocates of slavery. 

The bill, thus amended, passed the House by a large majority, and 
was sent to the Senate. When it came under consideration in that body, 
a motion was made to strike out the amendment inserted by the House, 
and thus was the bald question of slavery or freedom in Missouri pre- 
sented to the choice of Senators. There was but little debate on the sub- 
ject, but the proposition was sustained, and the restriction stricken out 
by a vote of 30 in the affirmative to 6 in the negative ; Messrs. Dagget 
and Dana, of Connecticut ; Palmer and Tichenor, of Vermont; King and 
Saudford, of New York ; Leach and Roberts, of Pennsylvania ; Storer, 
of New Hampshire, and Otis, of Massachusetts, representing free 
States, voted with the slaveholders against the establishment of liberty 
in Missouri. 

The entire history of our nation and of other governments show that 
the further public officers are removed from the power of the people, the 
less anxious are they to secure the people's rights ; certainly no fact is 
more apparent in our own history, than that the Senate, up to the time 
of the great rebellion of 1861, on almost all questions involving popular 
rights, acted with the slaveholders. On this occasion, only six of the 
twenty Senators from free States voted for freedom, while twelve voted 

• Forty-two years subsequently, while the writer was penning these pages, the great battle of 
Pea Ridge was being fought by the Union army of Missouri. It was the most bloody contest which 
had then occurred upon the American soil. There the friends of freedom poured out their blood 
freely in defence of their cause. They achieved a glorious victory, and by the sacrifice of more 
than a thousand valuable lives, established liberty in Missouri, which was basely surrendered by 
northern statesmen in 1S19. 



56 THE EEEOE OF SEEVILE POLITICIANS. 

for slavery in Missouri. The bill, being thus amended, was returned to 
the House for concurrence. 

The session was near its close and the bill was immediately taken up for 
consideration in that body, and after a short debate, the amendment of the 
Senate was disagreed to by a vote of 16 in the affirmative to 18 in the 
negative. The Senate insisted on their amendment, and the House 
adhering to the bill as it passed that body, it was lost, and no law in 
regard to the admission of Missouri was pa'ssed at that session. 

This rejection of slavery in Missouri was complained of by southern 
papers and politicians as dictated by sectional interests and sectional pre- 
judices. Southern men having refused to examine the moral question, 
appeared to think that other sections of the country would only look at 
its political or sectional influence. To this period we may trace that 
error which became chronic in the minds of servile politicians, of charac- 
terizing the advocates of unchanging truth, justice, and freedom, as sup- 
porters of a sectional issue. 

But this successful resistance against the extension of slavery 
awakened in the northern mind a spirit of determined adherence to the 
doctrine of human rights, which, from that time never slumbered nor 
slept ; although many years elapsed before it attained such strength as 
to be heard by the nation. 

819 At this closing session of the fifteenth Congress, the people of 

Illinois, having framed a constitution and State government, asked 
admission to the Union. The constitution reserved to the people of that 
State the right to employ slaves at the salt works, near Shawneetown, until 
the year 1825, and to require all persons serving in that State under 
indentures to continue in service such time as had been stipulated. 

On admitting the State a question was raised as to the consistency of this 
constitution with the ordinance of 1187, and on this question a debate 
arose in which Mr. Tallmadge, of New York, declared that he would not 
argue the barbarous character of slavery, saying, " thai stigma must be 
cast from us as soon as possible." In answer to this, Mr. Poindexter, of 
Mississippi, asserted that the " whole South regarded slavery as a curse, 
and were anxious to get rid of it at the earliest moment possible." 

But Mr. Harrison, of Ohio, denied that the ordinance of 1781 im- 
posed any obligation upon the people of Illinois to discard slavery. And 
he assured gentlemen that Ohio would never ask Congress whether she 
might adopt slavery or not.* 

* This subserviency to the slave power on the part of Mr. Harrison probably constituted the 
secret of his election to the Presidency in 1S40. While Mr. Clay's love of liberty, doubtless, defeated 
bini in 1S44, as the southern States opposed his election. 



ILLINOIS ADIHTTED. 57 

The bill admitting Illinois under her constitution passed both Houses 
of Congress, and became a law. 

Further claims for slaves deported by the British army at the close of 
the late war, were presented and referred, and reports were made show- 
ing the progress of the Executive in obtaining a reference of all ques- 
tions touching those claims to the umpirage of the Emperor of Russia ; 
and the fifteenth Congress was brought to a close. 



58 MISSOURI CONTROVERSY RESUMED. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE NUMBER OF SLAVE STATES INCREASED. 

1819 , The meeting of the sixteenth Congress was looked to with much 

interest by the people generally, and with apprehensions by the 
more timid. The continuance of the Union had been threatened at the 
previous session, and many honest men of the free States entertained fears 
that these threats would be carried into execution if slavery were exclud- 
ed from Missouri. 

Mr. Clay was elected speaker of the House, and on assuming the duties 
of his office, he made a short speech alluding to the important questions 
which would come before them. On the 8th December a committee was 
appointed to bring in a bill to authorize the people of Missouri to form a 
constitution and State government. 

On the following clay the bill was reported in the usual form and was 
made the order of the day. 

On the 14th, it was taken up for consideration, when Mr. Taylor, of 
New York, moved the appointment of a committee to take into consider- 
ation and report a general law for excluding slavery from the territories 
west of the Mississippi. The proposition prevailed, and the consideration 
of the bill was postponed to await the report of the committee. 
1S20 , It was expected that the Speaker, according to parliamentary 

usage, would appoint a committee favorable to the proposition, 
but it appears that he was either deceived in regard to the character of 
some members of the committee, or he intentionally violated the usages 
of the House ; for on the 29th January, Mr. Taylor reported from the 
committee that they could not agree upon any action on the subject. 

The bill for authorizing the people of Missouri to form a State consti- 
tution and government was again taken up, when Mr. Storrs, of New 
York, proposed to add a new section, prohibiting slavery in the territo- 
ries of the United States north of the 38th degree of latitude. 

Although representing a free constituency, Mr. Storrs, with much abil- 
ity, opposed the restriction of slavery in Missouri, insisting that the peo- 
ple of that territory ought to be permitted to dispose of the subject 
according to their own will, tacitly denying that the slave was entitled 
to any consideration. Indeed, no advocate for extending slavery appeared 
conscious that any moral principle was involved. 



THE MISSOURI CONTROVERSY. 59 

To this it was replied that, if slavery were just and profitable, it ought 
to be extended; if unjust and criminal, it should not only be restricted but 
blotted out ; that it were absurd to say it was just and right up to a cer- 
tain degree of latitude, and unjust and criminal north of such line • that 
the guilt, the turpitude of slavery consisted in its perpetration and not in 
the place of committing the crime. 

As the legislatures of different States assembled, the absorbing question 
of admitting Missouri attracted their attention. Pennsylvania appealed 
to the other States « to refuse to covenant with crime," and by a unanimous 
vote, declared it the duty as well as the right of Congress to prohibit 
Slavery in Missouri. 

New Jersey and Delaware followed by unanimous vote of their legisla- 
tures. Ner was New York backward on the subject. The Legisla- 
ture of that important State adopted resolutions calling on Con- 
gress to inhibit slavery in Missouri; and all parties united in reelect- 
ing Mr. King to the Senate for the purpose of sustaining the policy of 
restricting the institution. Ohio also followed the example set by her sister 
States, and adopted resolutions calling on Congress to restrict slavery to 
the States in which it then existed. 

The legislatures of the New England States were silent; but their peo- 
ple sent numerous memorials to Congress, asking that body to save the 
nation from the further extension of slavery. Kentucky, Virginia, and 
Maryland, through their legislatures, memorialized Congress in favor of 
permitting Missouri to establish slavery, if her people desired its existence 
among them. A large meeting was held in Baltimore, at which the mayor 
presided, and strong resolutions against the extension of slavery were 
adopted. But the Legislature of Pennsylvania alone spoke of slavery as 
a crime, and invoked Congress "to re/use to covenant with it" Others 
referred to the institution as wrong, as unjust, impolitic, fa but exhibited 
an apparent delicacy in characterizing the deep moral turpitude of the 
institution. 

On receipt of these memorials and legislative resolves, the bill relate 
to Missouri was laid aside, and that admitting Maine to form a State 
government and constitution was taken up for consideration 

Mr. Clay, Speaker of the House, now opposed the admission of Maine 
and assigned as the cause of his opposition the efforts to restrict 
slavery in Missouri. But this unjust and unstatesmanlike effort was 
promptly met and exposed and almost unanimously voted clown. The 
bU admitting Maine was passed and sent to the Senate for concur- 
rence ; and that admitting Missouri was again taken up for considers 
tion. 



(50 THE aussoi'KI OOMXEOVEESZ. 

As the debate continued to occupy the House of Representatives, the 
attention o( the people became more intensely attracted to the subject , 
and for the first time the northern States appeared to realize thai the 
moral sentiment of the nation was paralized by the slave power. "News- 
papers called attention o( their readers to that provision of the Federal 
Constitution which gives to each State equal powers ami influence in pro* 

portion to their free population, ami then superadds three votes for every 
live slaves whom the people of sueh Slate may bold in bondage. They said 
the provision whieh thus gave a bounty to slaveholders was the work of 

those who framed the Constitution; init if that* bounty were extended to 
Missouri, the generation who perpetrated Such an outrage must hear the 
odium. 

But this superiority of influence had been acknowledged by the framers 
of the Constitution; and slaveholders had been led to believe it a just ac- 
knowledgment o( their superior excellence. These considerations seemed 
to embitter the contest. The people oi' both slave and free Slates 
became excited. The arrival of mails was watched with interest in every 
village, hamlet and city. All eyes were turned towards Congress. The 
action of every member was watched by bis constituents, and a determi* 
nation was manifested to hold members responsible for their course upon 
the subject o( liberty. 

While the debate in the House was progressing, the Senate took up 

tor consideration the bill admitting Maine. An amendment proposing to 
admit Missouri was offered, ami Mr. Roberta, of Pennsylvania, proposed 

to amend the amendment by inserting a prohibition of slavery iu Mis- 
souri. 

Thus both Houses o( Congress were engaged at. the same time in die- 
CDSSing the important question of extending slavery, whieh was fraught 
with sueh momentous consequences to the nation and to posterity. 

Northern Senators appeared more inspired with the spirit of freedom 
than at any time sinee the adoption o( the Constitution. They referred 
to the Declaration Of Independence, insisted that the primal truths 
therein enunciated ought not to be departed from. Hut eloquence and 
logic could not reach the hearts o( slaveholders. Southern members of 
the Senate followed the example set them in the House of Represent- 
atives. They steadily and persistently refused to debate primal truths, 
or moral principles. Assuming as their predicate that Congress was 
bound to admit any new State with such constitution as its people should 
adopt, they based their arguments upon that postulate, from whieh 
they reasoned ably and ingenuously. 

In all their arguments they denied that human governments wen 



THE MISSOUKI CONTUOVKH8Y. 61 

limited in their legitimate powers to the administration of justice, insist- 
ing that they held the political right to enslave the African race, and 
render them subservient to the will of their masters ; and uttered threats 
of a dissolution of the Union if northern members persisted in their 
eflbrts to inhibit slavery in the Territories. To the lion. Ninian 
Edwards, of Illinois, belongs the honor or the odium of enunciating 
in 'lie Senate of the United States his own moral cowardice. He spoke 
of the feeling in the free States against the extension of slavery, declar- 
ing he could not contemplate it except with horror. He insisted that 
tho slave States were opposed to slavery, and would rid themselves of it 
soon as Providence should open a way for its abolition, and closed by 
gayiug he should vote against the restriction "to save the Union ;" and 
this language was repeated in the Senate and in the House of Represent- 
atives during the succeeding forty years, and constituted the reason for 
every surrender of human rights and northern honor, until southern men 
actually seceded from the Union. Yet we arc not at liberty to suppose 
that Mr. Edwards or others, who thus surrendered their independence 
at the dictation of southern members, believed that in thus encouraging 
the advocates of slavery, strengthening and confirming them in the 
opinion that the Union was chiefly beneficial to the free States, they 
were hastening the very event which they professed to deprecate. 

The feeling among the people of the free States appeared to have a 
different effect upon Mr. Otis, of Massachusetts, who had, up to that 
time, usually spoken and voted with southern members. lie now 
changed his position and stood forth among the ablest; and boldest 
champions of freedom. 

After spending some two weeks in debating this question, the Senate 
proceeded to vote on the proposition to prohibit slavery in the contem- 
plated State of Missouri, when it was found that only sixteen members 
were in favor of it, while then; were twenty-seven against it ; all mem- 
bers from the slave States voting against it, assisted by Messrs. Parrott, 
of New Hampshire ; Palmer, of Vermont ; Hunter, of Rhode Island ; 
Lanman, of Connecticut ; Edwards and Thomas, of Illinois. Tho inhi- 
bition being rejected, Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, offered an amendment, 
prohibiting slavery in the Louisiana purchase, north of tho line of 
Avkansas. 

Mr. Trimble, of Ohio, moved to amend that proposition by excluding 
it from Arkansas also ; but this latter proposition was rejected, 24 to 20, 
th( Senators from Illinois and Indiana voting against it. The vote was 
then taken on excluding slavery from the remainder of the Louisiana 
puici/asc, and it was carried, 34 to 10. With these amendments, tho 



62 THE MISSOURI CONTROVERSY. 

bill admitting Maine was attached to that admitting Missouri, and the 
two bills thus consolidated passed the Senate, 24 to 20, and was trans- 
mitted to the House for concurrence. 

Nor had the lower branch been idle while the debate was progressing 
in the Senate. In that body the history of slavery was traced to its 
origin ; its crimes and guilt were brought out to the public gaze ; its 
unequivocal character, its violation of natural law, of natural justice, 
was set forth in forcible language ; its effect upon the prosperity of 
nations, its perfect inconsistency with Christian civilization were forcibly 
presented. 

To this it was replied that slavery had existed among all ancient 
nations ; that it was necessary in warm latitudes, where white men could 
not endure the heat ; that our Federal Constitution had recognized its 
existence, and southern men would not now examine its justice or injus- 
tice ; and northern members were appealed to and exhorted to forget 
their prejudices in favor of freedom, in order " to save the Union." Mem- 
bers from the slave States boasted of their devotion to the Union, and 
beaded that northern members would not press their views of liberty too 
far, lest they should drive slaveholding members to dissolve the Union 
which they so highly prized, asserting that every people held the right 
to judge for themselves whether they would or would not establish 

slavery. 

Northern members admitted that the doctrine advanced would be con- 
sistent in a Pagan government ; but was entirely opposed to Christianity, 
which denied that those who administer human governments could iuno- 
cently enslave men who had committed no crime or offence. 

On the 19th February, the House took up the bill from the 
Senate, and disagreed to the amendments made in that body 
after four days' debate, and, having returned the bill with their disagree- 
ment, resumed the consideration of the proposition to inhibit slavery in 
the contemplated State of Missouri. 

On the 27th February, the House, in committee, agreed to the clause 
restricting slavery in Missouri, and the bill was reported to the House. 
On the 29th, that body, while considering the amendments, reached the 
restrictive proposition, and it was agreed to, 94 members voting in favor 
of it, to 86 against it, Messrs. Holmes, Mason, and Shaw, of Massachu- 
setts ; Storrs and Meigs, of New York ; and Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, 
voting with the advocates of slavery ; and the bill passed the House by 
vote of 91 to 82, and was transmitted to the Senate for concurrence on 
the 1st March. 

The Senate proceeded at once to consider the bill, and by vote of 21 



THE MISSOURI CONTROVERSY. (J3 

to 15 struck out the restrictive clause, Messrs. Tichener and Palmer of 
^ ermout ; Hunter, of Rhode Island ; Lanman, of Connecticut • Par- 
rott, of New Hampshire ; Thomas and Edwards, of Illinois 'ao-am 
voting with the adherents of slavery. The Senate next amended °the 
bill by adopting a clause excluding slavery from all that portion of the 
Louisiana purchase lying north of 36 deg. 30 min. north latitude 
and returned the bill, with their amendments, for concurrence b Y the 
House. J 

The House disagreed to the Senate's amendment attached to the bill 
admitting Maine, and the Senate having adhered to their amendment 
demanded a committee of conference. ' 

The House of Representatives complied with this demand and the 
committee being appointed, did not confine their action to the question 
Eubmitted to them, but advised the Senate to recede from its amend- 
ment uniting the two bills in one, and advised the House to recede from 
its amendment prohibiting slavery in Missouri, and that both branches 
should adopt a clause excluding the institution from the remainder of the 
territory purchased of France. 

_ This was literally the compromise which became so celebrated in Amer- 
ican history. It consisted of covenants, entered into by the members of 
Congress, professing to act for and on behalf of the people whom thev 
represented, as follows : 

First. The people of Maine were to be authorized to form a State 
government and constitution. 

Second. The people of Missouri were to be authorized to form a State 
constitution and government without restriction as to slavery. 

Third. Slavery was to be excluded from the remaining portion of the 
Louisiana territory. 

In making this recommendation, the committee clearly transcended its 
powers, as the bill concerning Missouri had not been committed to them 
for consideration. 

The House, however, immediately took up the bill to authorize the 
formation of a constitution and State government in Missouri, with the 
amendment made in the Senate, striking out the clause inhibiting slavery 
and it was ascertained that 90 members were in favor of agreeing to the 
action of the Senate, while only 87 were opposed to it 1 

The following members from the free States voted in favor of agree- 
ing to the Senate's amendment, to wit : Messrs. Holmes, Mason Hill 
and Shaw, of Massachusetts ; Eddy, of Rhode Island ; Foot'e and 
Stevens, of Connecticut ; Bloomfield, Kinney, and Smith, of New Jersey- 
Storrs and Meigs, of New York ; Baldwin and Fullerton, of Pennsvl' 



6i THE MISSOUEI CONTROVERSY. 

vauia. Messrs. Edwards, of Connecticut ; Merril, of "Vermont ; Cage, 
Peck, and Thompkins, of New York, did -not vote. It was through 
this defection of northern members that slavery was established in 
Missouri. 

The proviso excluding slavery from the territory north of 36 deg. 
30 min. was then agreed to by a vote of 134 to 42. 

It was on this occasion that Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, denounced 
the eighteen northern members by whose vote this compromise was 
carried, as " dough-faces," and the compromise itself as a" dirty bar- 
gain" 

Mr. Randolph gave notice that he should move a reconsideration of 
the vote on the next day ; but the Speaker, intending to put an end 
to the controversy, directed the Clerk to hurry the bill to the Senate 
the same evening ; and when, on the following day, Mr. Randolph 
attempted to make the motion to reconsider, he was informed that the 
bill had been sent to the Senate, and his motion was, therefore, not in 
order.* 

The Senate now receded from its amendment to the bill admitftn<r 
Maine, and thus the compromise was consummated so far as Congress 
was concerned, and the two bills now awaited the Executive approval. 

At that period the State of Virginia appeared to exert a controlling 
influence in our national politics, and the statesmen of that common- 
wealth seemed desirous of raisiDg an issue in the approaching Presi. 
dential election, upon the power of Congress to exclude slavery from the 
Territories of the United States. 

The President (Mr. Monroe), to fortify himself on this point, pro- 
pounded to his cabinet two questions : 

First. Has Congress the constitutional power to prohibit slavery in the 
Territories of the United States ? 

Second. Was the term "forever" used in the bill authorizing the 
people of Missouri to form a State constitution and government, to be 
understood as referring only to the territorial condition of the district to 
which it related ? Or was it an attempt to extend the prohibition to 
the States which might at some future day be erected thereon ? 

On the first question the Cabinet were unanimously of (he opinion that 
(Congress possessed the power to exclude slavery from the Territories of the 
United States. 

* Mr Clay, after the death of Mr. Randolph, admitted that he sent the bill thus early to th» 
Senate for the purpose of putting an end to the debate ; Mr. Randolph was greatly offended at t!u« 
management of the Speaker, and the feeling created at that time probably gave rise to the duel 
between those gentlemen, which occurred some years afterwards. 



VIEWS OF THE EXECUTIVE CABINET. 65 

On the second, Mr. Adams alone declared in favor of snch construc- 
tion as would forever exclude slavery from such States as might be 
formed from the territory embraced in the proviso. But at the instance 
of Mr. Calhoun, the second interrogatory was so modified as simply to 
inquire whether the proviso as it stood in the UU was constitutional! 
And all the cabinet responded in the affirmative.* 

The difficulty on this subject, doubtless, arose from the proneness of 
statesmen to reason from the incidental questions propounded, rather 
than to search out the primal cause which gave rise to them. Had 
members of Congress and of the Executive cabinet borne in mind that 
our Government was based upon the acknowledged doctrine that life 
and liberty are gifts of God constituting the rights of mankind, lying 
behind and above human laws and human governments, they would have 
seen and felt that Congress must have had the same power to exclude 
slavery from our Territories, that it had to exclude murder or treason 
from them, or to exclude piracy from the high seas ; and that States 
formed from such territory could have no more authority to establish 
slavery than they had to establish murder or treason. 

Mr. Adams, then Secretary of State, was in the habit of describing, 
in his Diary, his own views upon important events which were trans- 
piring around him ; and we cannot better interest the reader than 
to give a short extract therefrom, showing the views and impressions 
of that distinguished statesman at the time of consummating this com- 
promise. 

" The impression," said he, "produced on my mind by the progress 
of this discussion is, that the bargain between freedom and slavery con- 
tained in the Constitution of the United States, is morally and politically 
vicious, inconsistent with the principles upon which alone our Revolution 
can be justified ; cruel and oppressive by riveting the chains of slavery ; 
in pledging the faith of freedom to maintain and perpetuate the tyranny 
of the masters ; and grossly unequal and impolitic, by admitting that 
slaves are at once enemies to be kept in subjection ; property to be secured 
■ and restored to their owners ; and persons not to be represented themselves, 
but for whom the masters are privileged with nearly a double share of 
representation. The consequence has been that this slave representation 
has governed the Union. ... It would be no difficult matter to prove 

* The opinions of the Cabinet were expressed in writing by each member; but those written 
opinions were subsequently lost from the Executive files, and the above facts were supplied from 
the Diary of Mb. Adams, to the correctness of which, Mr. Calhoun was constrained to yield admis- 
sion, although he changed his ODinion as to the constitutional power of Congress to prohibit 
slavery in the Territories. 

5 



G6 EFFECTS OF THE COMPEOMISE. 

by reviewing the history of the Union under this Constitution, that 
almost everything which has contributed to the honor and welfare of 
the nation has been accomplished in despite of them, and that every- 
thing unpropitious and dishonorable, including the blunders and follies 
of their adversaries, may be traced to them." 

1820 1 ^ ne rcsu ^ °f the contest was deeply mortifying to the North. 

The people of the free States now realized that they were under 
the rule of the slave power, and felt a corresponding humiliation. 
Governor Woolcot, of Connecticut, alluding to it in his annual message, 
declared, " We may admit that our southern brethern are as firmly 
attached to liberty as ourselves ; but we cannot concede that they are 
our superiors without submitting to humiliation and reproach. Pro- 
bably the claim has no other foundation than in the well-known ardor, 
tenacity of opinion, and strict concert of action with which the members 
of a privileged order invariably pursue a separate and exclusive interest. 
Even a tacit admission of inferiority on our part, by habitual conces- 
sions, would imply on our part a secret preference for aristocratic over 
democratic institutions." It is certain that " habitual concessions " did 
mark the public action of all the free States during half a century, and 
that the action of the slave States during that period was characterized 
by " ardor, tenacity of opinion, and strict concert." 

Pennsylvania had been truly patient and long-suffering. From the 
adoption of the Constitution she had seen her sovereignty outraged, her 
free colored citizens kidnapped, carried to slave States and sold to inter- 
minable bondage ; and when she complained of these outrages she had 
been told that such crimes in slave States constituted only trespasses, for 
which relief must be sought by suit for private damage. She had seen 
the fugitive slave act used for the purpose of enslaving free citizens. Riots 
and bloodshed, growing out of attempts to seize alleged fugitives, created 
alarm on the part of her quiet and peace-loving citizens ; but her indig- 
nation was aroused by the extension of slavery into Missouri, and her 
Legislature passed an act forbidding her justices of the peace to aid in 
the arrest of fugitive slaves. 

But while much feeling was exhibited in the free States against this 
extension of slavery, the entire South became united and active in 
favor of the measure. Mr. Clay, the leading statesman of the South, 
though once an ardent supporter of liberty, now wielded more influence 
in favor of extending slavery than any other man of the nation. His 
avowed theory, or attempt to palliate his own course, was, that the 
best cure for slavery was to spread it over as great an extent of country 
as possible. Even Mr. Jefferson, who had so long been deemed the 



THE SLAVE TRADE A CAPITAL OFFENCE. 67 

apostle of American liberty, perhaps through senility, became alarmed 
lest this contest on behalf of freedom might endanger the perpetuity of 
the Union. A letter from him to that effect was read on the floor of 
Congress during the debate. It may also be cited as a remarkable fact 
that among' all the southern members of Congress who professed great 
devotion to freedom, not one dared vote in its favor on this important 
question. 

The contest had been one of principle, but the division on the part of 
the South had been strictly sectional, as no slaveholding member had 
voted with the North, while several northern members in each House 
had voted with the South. Yet, with an inconsistency peculiar to the 
southern character, they arrogantly charged those of the North with 
getting up a " sectional issue." 

Encouraged by success on the Missouri question, southern 
members at once demanded further protection for the institution. 
A vessel had landed in South Carolina with a small number of slaves 
imported from one of the West India islands. By existing laws the 
ship and cargo were forfeited. They were seized, and the captain 
arrested. The people of that State memorialized Congress to pass a law 
to exempt the ship, cargo, and slaves from confiscation, and the captain 
and crew from punishment. 

Some northern members strongly objected to this mode of legislating 
in behalf of men who had violated the penal laws of the country ; but 
the bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote 6f 85 to 73, and 
the Senate sustained the action of the House, but left no record of the 
number or names of the Senators who voted for the measure. 

But while both Houses of Congress showed themselves thus subser- 
vient to the dictates of the slave power, a bill for protecting the com- 
merce of the United States being before the House of Representatives, 
Mr. Mercer, of Virginia, proposed an amendment, declaring the seizure, 
or capture, or bringing any negro or mulatto into the United States, 
should be regarded as piracy, punishable with death. 

The slave trade was regarded by the Christian world as barbarous and 
heathenish, and southern members were unwilling to be placed in the 
position of sustaining or encouraging it, particularly as no law had 
proven effective against it, or was likely to abolish it so long as the 
public officers and people of the slave States lent it a tacit support by 
purchasing the slaves brought to them, and refused to punish those who 
supplied them with laborers ; and the amendment of Mr. Mercer passed 
almost without opposition. Thus, the same Congress which stamped the 
purchase and enslavement of men in Africa as the most odious of crimes, 



68 NOETHEEN MEMBEES DISCAEDED. 

sanctioned and approved the same felonious acts when committed in the 
West India Islands or in Missouri. 

The President transmitted a message and documents to the two 
Houses of Congress, showing that both African and West Indian slaves 
were constantly carried through Amelia Island, and other parts of 
Florida and the Indian country, to Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi 
and Louisiana ; that the people of those States were in the practice of 
obtaining slaves in this way notwithstanding the laws which prohibit- d 
the traffic. 

Upon the receipt of this intelligence, a joint resolution was introduced 
in the House of Representatives, requesting the President to enter into 
arrangements with other Christian nations for suppressing this commerce 
in mankind. The resolution passed that body by a large majority ; but 
the Senate, unwilling to strike a blow so fatal to the slave trade, re- 
jected the proposition, 
i During the vacation of Congress, electious were held in most 

of the northern States, affording the people a legitimate oppor- 
tunity to express their views in regard to the extension of slavery into 
Missouri. Some of the ablest and most popular men of the free States 
had cast their votes in favor of permitting the people of Missouri to hold 
slaves, to wield an influence in the future elections of President and 
Vice-President, and in the Government, according to their free popula- 
tion, the same as that enjoyed by northern men, superadding thereto 
three votes for every five slaves whom they might hold in bondage. 
The people now visited their displeasure upon the men who had thus 
humiliated them. Nearly every northern member of Congress who had 
favored the measure was rejected by the people, and doomed thence- 
forth to private life. 

At the reassembling of Congress, Mr. Clay, Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, conscious of the popular feeling in the free States, with 
a high and honorable delicacy, resigned his office, and called on that 
body to elect another man to preside over their deliberations. 

This brought the action of Congress on the Missouri bill to another 
test before the members of the House of Representatives. Hon. John 
W. Taylor, of New York, had shown himself perhaps the most decidedly 
opposed to slavery in Missouri of any member of the body, at least his 
opposition had been more active, and northern members now selected 
him as their candidate. 

Hon. W. Lownds, of South Carolina, was the leading candidate of 
the South. He was a man of high moral character, of great experience, 
and of distinguished ability. Yet he could not command the united 



DEFEAT OF THE SLAVEHOLDERS. 69 

support of the slave States. The northern slave States were more con- 
servative than South Carolina, and, on that account, Mr. Smith, of Mary- 
land, was sustained, while Pennsylvania, a border free State, offered Mr. 
Sergeant as their favorite candidate. 

The contest was somewhat protracted, and maintained with great 
determination. On the seventeenth ballot, Mr. Lownds' vote rose 
within one of an election ; but northern members, conscious that the 
eyes of their constituents were upon them, now stood firm, and, on the 
twenty-second ballot, Mr. Taylor was elected. 

This was the first important defeat which the slave power had met since 
the adoption of the Constitution, and northern members hailed it as an 
indication that the regime of slavery in Congress was drawing to a close. 

The President, in his annual message, called the attention of Congress 
to the fact that all laws for prohibiting the slave trade had proven fruit- 
less, and that the traffic in the bodies of the unoffending people of Africa 
was yet carried on to an alarming extent by the people of our southern 
States. The message was respectfully referred, but the committee made 
no report upon that portion of it. 

In pursuance of the law passed at the previous session of Congress, 
the people of Missouri had formed a constitution and State government, 
and now presented their memorial asking admission to the Union. But 
assuming the doctrine proclaimed by the Legislature of Virginia to lie 
correct, that Cougress had no power to refuse admission to a new State, 
they adopted a clause requiring the Legislature, at their first session, 
to exclude free blacks and mulattoes from the State, although this class 
of people had, in a majority of the States, voted for delegates to the 
convention that framed the federal compact, and were regarded as 
" citizens," and not only exercised the elective franchise, but, by the Con- 
stitution of the United States, were entitled to the privileges and immu- 
nities of " citizens of the several States." The memorial and constitution 
were referred by the Senate to a select committee, who reported a reso- 
lution admitting Missouri as a State without reference to this clause in 
her constitution. 

On this resolution an interesting debate* arose. Southern men denied 
that colored men were " citizens," insisting that none were such ex- 
cept those who were entitled to vote and hold office. They also sneered 
at those northern members who called colored people " citizens." To 
which northern members replied, that in no State were minors or females 
allowed to vote, yet in all the States they were held to be " citizens ;" 
and, as to color, our fathers had looked upon colored men as good and 
worthy soldiers and sailors during the Revolution, that they died freeiy 



70 MISSOURI CONTEST RENEWED. 

in order to gain our independence, had voted in a large majority of the 
States at the close of the war, and were entitled to enjoy life, liberty, 
and property, as guaranteed by the Constitution, whether they were in 
New England or Missouri. 

Southern members then had recourse to threats for dissolving the 
Union, in order to intimidate northern members. This proved effective; 
the resolution was adopted by a vote of 26 to 18. Messrs. Chandler 
and Holmes, of Maine ; Parrot, of New Hampshire ; Edwards and 
Thomas, of Illinois, and Taylor, of Indiana, voting with the slave- 
holders. 

In the House of Representatives the subject was referred to a com- 
mittee, of which Mr. Lownds, of South Carolina, was chairman. He 
reported apologetically in favor of admitting Missouri with the constitu- 
tion which her people had adopted, leaving the question of conflict 
between the Federal Constitution and that of Missouri to be determined 
by the judiciary. 

Mr. Sargeant, of Pennsylvania, a young but talented member, now be- 
came the leading speaker against the resolution for admitting Missouri. 
He insisted that every member of Congress was bound by oath to sup- 
port the Federal Constitution; that this duty which each had sworn to 
perform for himself could not be cast upon the Supreme Court ; that Mis- 
souri could only ask admission to the Union when she presented a consti- 
tution which accorded with that of the United States; that the Federal 
Constitution had guaranteed life, liberty, and property to all under its 
exclusive jurisdiction. That jurisdiction was yet retained by Congress, and 
they ought never to yield it to any people who by constitutional or legis- 
lative enactment would exclude the citizens of the States now asked to 
admit them to the common sisterhood. 

Southern members became irritated. They saw clearly that the sta- 
bility of slavery depended on maintaining the doctrine that Africans did 
not belong to the human family, that they were property. 

The debate occupied six days and closed by an emphatic rejection of 
the proposition to admit Missouri, the vote standing 93 to 19. Messrs. 
Baldwin, of Pennsylvania; Bloomfield and Smith, of New Jersey; and 
Meigs, of New York, being the only members from the free States who 
voted with the slaveholders. All other northern members who voted 
with the South during the previous session, now changed position and 
voted with the free States. 

The result was unexpected by the advocates of slavery. Mr. Lownds, v 
with much apparent feeling, remarked that he respected the opinion of 
the majority and felt bound by it. Members appeared to feel that the 



ATTEMPTED COMPEOMTSE. 71 

sceptre of political power for the time being had departed from southern 
hands, and was in fact wielded by the North. 

On the following day, Mr. Archer, of Virginia, with great apparent 
solemnity, moved a resolution directing the committee on the judiciary to 
inquire whether there were any laws in force in Missouri ? He spoke 
warmly and somewhat arrogantly in favor of adopting this resolution; 
and Mr. Sargeant promptly replied to his argument, and the resolution 
was laid on the table by a vote of 91 to 58. 

An incident now occurred in the course of proceeding which well illus- 
trates the strategy of southern statesmen. Some memorials relative to 
the public lands were presented to the House from the people of Mis- 
souri. The clerk, in entering them upon the journal, referred to them as 
" memorials from the Stale of Missouri." The Speaker, on examining the 
journal, noticed the error, and as was his official duty, corrected it by 
striking out the words " State of," leaving the memorials described as com- 
ing from " Missouri," without designating it as a State, or as a territory. 

To this action of the Speaker southern members took exceptions, as 
though it were a matter of importance ; charged him with improper con- 
duct, and spofce of the South refusing to submit to such despotism. They 
moved to amend the journal by restoring the words stricken out; and the 
House being equally divided, the Speaker, as an evidence of his sincerity, 
and under the conviction that the journal could have no particular effect 
one way or the other, gave the casting vote in favor of the motion. But 
this did not affect the prominent and humiliating fact, that the end of 
slaveholding control appeared to have come. Southern men had contended 
for the principle, that a new State demanding admission must be re- 
ceived into fellowship by the older States, whatever may be the charac- 
ter of their constitutions. This doctrine had met with an unmitigated 
negation in the House. 

Mr. Clay had arrived at Washington and taken his scat. On his mo- 
tion, the joint resolution of the Senate was taken up by the House for 
consideration, and his utmost efforts were put forth in favor of its adop- 
tion. In this he was sustained by the ablest speakers of the South. The 
resolution was finally referred to a committee of thirteen members, of 
which Mr. Clay was chairman. 

Their report was drawn and presented by Mr. Clay. It referred to 
the unfortunate difference of opinion which existed among the members ; 
spoke gloomily of the dangers which might result from a failure of the 
two Houses to unite, and then recommended the admission of Missouri 
upon condition that her Legislature should pass no laws excluding the ci- 
tizens of the United States from her territory. 



72 COMPEOMISE DEBATED. 

It is not for the historian to criticise the political acts of any individ- 
ual, but it can scarcely be supposed that Mr. Clay or the members of that 
committee believed such condition would have any effect upon the action 
of the Legislature of Missouri after her admission.* 

But the proposition was promptly met, exposed and voted down, and 
the resolution of the Senate rejected by 83 to 80. 

On the following day Mr. Livermore, of New Hampshire, moved a re- 
3onsideration of this vote, and this motion after a very earnest debate was 
agreed to, and debate was resumed upon the merits of the Senate's reso- 
lution. 

Southern members now spoke of the portentous consequences of reject- 
ing Missouri; said it would have the necessary effect of separating the 
South from the North, and the Union, established at such vast expense 
of blood and treasure, must be dissolved. But most of the northern 
members appear to have remained unmoved by these appeals to their 
moral cowardice ; and the Senate's resolution was rejected by a 
vote of 88 tc 83, and the subject, according to all parliamentary 
law and the usages of Congress, was disposed of for the session. But 
is2i i ^ r - Brown, of Kentucky, offered a resolution directing the judi- 
Feb. 2i.J c i ar y committee to inquire into the expediency of repealing the 
act passed at the previous session of Congress authorizing Missouri to 
form a State government. The resolution was promptly rejected ; and 
Mr. Clark, of New York, offered another declaring that so soon as 
Missouri should form a constitution in accordance with that of the United 
States, Congress would admit her to the Union. This was also rejected. 
Feb 2s 1 ^ r * ^ a y once more came forward, with a determination of pur- 
pose which many regarded as praiseworthy, while others con- 
demned it as an unworthy effort to extend slavery. He now proposed to 
raise a joint committee of the two Houses for the purpose of presenting 
some plan for settling the controversy in regard to the admission of Mis- 
souri. His proposition was sustained; the resolution was adopted, and 
a committee of thirteen on the part of the House was appointed. 
Feb 281 Froin this committee Mr. Clay, the chairman, reported a reso- 
lution declaring that Missouri should thereafter be admitted to 
the sisterhood of States upon the proclamation of the President, when- 
ever her legislator should officially pledge the State never to pass any law 
excluding citizens of the United States from her territory. 

On this report there was little debate, all apparently feeling that the 

* It is within the personal knowledge of the writer that Mr. Clay in subsequent life spoke of this 
Teport as having been made merely to afford an excuse for northern members to rote for the adniis- 
eion of Missouri, and with no idea that the condition would bo obligatory on the State if admitted. 



COMPROMISE ADOPTED. 73 

argument had been previously exhausted, and with much apparent solem- 
nity the vote was taken and showed 86 in the affirmative and 82 in the 
negative. Messrs. Baldwin, Samuel Moore and Rogers, of Pennsylva- 
nia ; Bateman, Bloomfield and Smith, of New Jersey ; Clark, Ford, 
Hackley, Meigs and Storrs, of New York ; Stevens, of Connecticut ; 
Eddy, of Rhode Island; Hill and Shaw, of Massachusetts, voting with 
the slaveholders, while Messrs. Clifton, of New Hampshire; Cushman, of 
Massachusetts ; Hazzard, of Rhode Island; Crafts, of Vermont; and 
Tompkins, of New York, did not vote. 

Every member from the slave States voted for the resolution, assisted 
by the fifteen members mentioned from the free States. With their as- 
sistance the resolution was carried by four majority, while five other 
members from the free States sat with folded arms looking upon the 
mighty contest as though they owed no duty to either freedom or slavery. 
Yet this contest in regard to Missouri was maintained with more 
firmness by northern members than had characterized their action at the 
former session. It was, however, regarded by intelligent men as an un- 
worthy surrender cf the Constitution to the supposed interests of slavery. 
And while the odium was concentrated upon the individuals who, repre- 
senting constituencies in the free States, had lent their votes and influ- 
ence to the triumphs of slavery, the hatred of slaveholding domination 
now took a stronger hold upon the northern mind, and struck deeper 
into the hearts of the people, from which it was never subsequently eradi- 
cated.* 

Before the adjournment of Congress, Mr. Meigs, of New York, as if 
in some degree to atone for his persistent vote in favor of slavery, offered 
a resolution appropriating five hundred millions acres of land as a fund 
for the purpose of abolishing slavery, as he said, in order to end the con- 
troversy between slavery and freedom. He spoke in favor of his propo- 
sition, and was listened to respectfully ; but, as though members appre- 
ciated his unenviable position, nearly one half of their number refused to 
vote on his proposition, which was laid on the table without further debate. 
This was the last action of the sixteenth Congress upon the subject of 
slavery. This triumph of the supporters of African bondage, inspired 
them with a confidence winch subsequently increased by further surren- 
ders, until it ripened into arrogance, and finally culminated in attempts 
to exercise an unrelenting despotism. 

* This remark is based upon the distinct recollection of the author, who was at the time reading 
law, and, with other inmates of the office, kept a close watch of congressional proceedings, and felt 
deeply mortified at this betrayal of freedom by northern members, and the conviction that slavery 
and freedom could never he encouraged and upheld by the same government at the same tune 
never subsequently Lett ULs mind. 



74 CONTEST IN REGARD TO SPEAKER. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ARROGANCE OF THE SLAVE POWER ITS FRAUDS AND IMPORTANT DEFEAT. 

1821 -. At the opening of the seventeenth Congress it was quite ap- 
Dec. 3. J p aren t that a deep feeling existed in favor of slavery on one hand 
and against it on the other. The members from the free States who 
in the previous Congress had voted and acted with the slaveholders had 
been discarded by their constituents. Two only of their whole number 
continued to hold seats in the House of Representatives, and these were 
regarded as " spared monuments" of the people's mercy. Mr. Baldwin, 
of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Eddy, of Rhode Island, had been returned as 
members of the present House of Representatives, although they had 
steadily voted for slavery. 

The controversy which had characterized the former Congress was re- 
newed at the commencement of the present on the election of Speaker. 
Mr. Taylor, of New York, had been an able and uncompromising oppo- 
nent of slavery extension, and had served as Speaker during the last ses* 
sion of the previous Congress, and was now presented as the candidate 
of the advocates of liberty. 

The South had felt no little mortification at the previous election of 
Mr. Taylor. They appeared fully conscious that to maintain their polit- 
ical ascendency they must designate the higher officers of Government, 
whc should be elected under their apparent patronage. A majority of 
members from the slave States united upon Caesar A. Rodney, of Dela- 
ware, as their candidate. 

But Virginia had been accustomed to control the nomination of offi- 
cers. She had given to the United States four of the five Presidents, 
and while the members from slave States aspired to control the nation, 
Virginia felt it one of her prerogatives to control those members. Her 
delegation were not satisfied with Mr. Rodney, and would not assist in 
his election. There were seven ballots cast on the first day, and the 
highest number which Mr. Rodney received was sixty-seven, which was 
given on the fifth ballot ; but his vote fell to fifty-nine on the twelfth 
ballot, when the House adjourned. During these ballotings Mr. Tay- 
lor's vote had risen regularly from sixty, given on the first, to seventy- 
seven, which constituted his strength on the last ballot of the day. 



THE SLAVE POWEK TRIUMPHANT. 75 

On that evening a majority of southern members concluded to vote for 
Mr. Barbour, of Virginia, who now became the southern candidate, and 
was elected on the twelfth ballot, by eighty-eight votes, being a majority 
of the whole number cast. 

With a slaveholding President and a majority of slaveholders in the 
Cabinet and in the Supreme Court, and a slaveholding Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, the devotees of oppression grasped the sceptre 
of power with a firmer hand than before, and bade defiance to any at- 
tempt that might be made in favor of the " self-evident truths" on which 
our republican edifice had been reared. 

Notwithstanding the ill feelings engendered by the admission of Mis- 
souri with a constitution opposed to the vital' doctrines of the Federal 
compact, the President, in his annual message, congratulated the 
people upon the union and harmony that prevailed in Congress 
and throughout the country. He referred to the precedent which had 
been set by their predecessors, agreeably to the doctrine then and for 
many years" sedulously inculcated by southern politicians, that whatever 
Congress might do, its action was to be regarded by subsequent genera- 
tions as cornet and binding upon all who should thereafter wield the power 
of Government. He went further, and imputed the downfall of other 
governments to established orders of nobility, instead of a departure from 
the dictates of pure and impartial justice, apparently unconscious that in 
our own nation we cherished a despotism which must fall before the 
advance of Christian civilization. 

The President, unconscious of inconsistency, called attention to the 
illicit commerce in slaves, earned on with the people of our southern 
States. Petitions from various free States, asking Congress to take 
efficient measures to abolish this traffic, were also presented to both 
Houses of Congress. The message and memorials were referred to a 
select committee, who made a frank and candid report, stating that the 
law declaring the slave trade to be piracy had exerted a salutary influ- 
ence in diminishing the horrors of that crime which so deeply affected the 
character of our nation ; but added, that it still continued to a fearful 
extent, and that no one nation, acting independently, could abolish the 
slave trade. They, therefore, reported a joint resolution authorizing 
the President to enter into arrangements with other powers for the final 
extinction of that scourge of mankind. 

Mr. Poinsett, of South Carolina, being a member of the committee, 
made a minority report, declaring that the report of the majority " was 
fraught with danger to the best interests of the country." South Carolina, 
in the convention which framed the Federal Constitution, supported the 



76 



IMPORTATION OF AFRICAN SLAVES. 



slave trade, and at no time since that period had her people given 
evidence of their opposition to it. Indeed, as has been noticed, her 
statesmen denied the right of Great Britain and the United Slates to 
use their combined efforts to abolish it, declaring that governments were 
under no obligation to observe the laws of justice towards the people 
of other nations. In maintaining this moral and political infidelity, 
South Carolina still supported her consistency. 

It may illustrate the barbarism of that age as well as of South Caro- 
lina to say further, that the committee stated that the number of slaves 
imported into our southern States was annually thirteen thousand, even 
while our laws declared such importation piracy and punishable with 
death. That from two points on the African coast, two hundred and 
fifty cargoes of slaves were annually exported to the American continent. 
Yet such was the moral paralysis resting on the public mind that the 
very men who purchased these slaves, and encouraged and made them- 
selves accessory to these piracies, were regarded as worthy citizens of a 
free government. 

But the resolution authorizing the President to make arrangements 
with other governments for the final abolition of the slave trade, passed 
the House of Representatives, only nine votes being cast against its 
adoption. 

ism,] 0n tne da y following, Mr. Wright, of Maryland, presented 

resolutions from the Legislature of that State, complaining that 
the people of Pennsylvania afforded aid and protection to the fugitive 
slaves of their State, and asked the protection of Congress against 
such practices. The resolutions were referred to the committee on the 
judiciary. 

But the next morning Mr. Wright presented a resolution referring 
the subject to a select committee, and in debating this resolution 
Mr. Wright assailed the Quakers and other philanthropists of Pennsyl- 
vania, for aiding slaves to obtain their freedom, and declared that unless 
Congress would act on the subject, " Maryland woidd take up arms far 
protecting her institutions: 1 These resolutions were also referred to the 
committee on the judiciary. 

Thus while the slave States were piratically importing thirteen thou- 
sand slaves annually, for which, by the laws of our Government, and the 
general sense of the civilized world, they deserved death, they arro- 
gantly called on Congress to protect them in holding in bondage 
the slaves thus imported, and the committee reported a bill in favor 
of the capture and return of fugitive slaves much more stringent in its 
provisions than the law then in force. But when it came up for con- 



FKEE AXD SLAVE GOYEKNMENTS OPPOSED. 77 

sideration, northern members objected to its passage, for the reason that 
it suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus, and in its whole framework was 
calculated to encourage and favor the kidnapping of free colored per. 
sons. The bill was recommitted to a select committee, who again 
reported it to the House ; and on further debate, the real difficulty 
in our Government was clearly developed to public view. Slaveholders 
from the South boldly demanded protection for their slaves; while 
the advocates of liberty from the North were equally determiued in their 
demands for protection to colored freemen against southern kidnappers. 
Members now learned that every provision for the capture and enslave- 
ment of fugitives endangered the liberty of the free colored population ; 
and that every act in favor of securing liberty to the free colored people 
operated to favor the escape of fugitive bondmen. And the bill was 
laid on the table, and no more brought before the House for con- 
sideration. 

The Spanish American colonies were still striving for their inde- 
pendence. One general and universal feeling of hostility to slavery 
seemed to pervade then- people, who had themselves labored under a 
despotism somewhat allied to slavery. The acknowledgment of their 
independence was now proposed, as it was asserted that the sympathy 
of the people of the United States must be with them. But southern 
statesmen proposed delay, suggested doubts. They argued that the 
revolution might extend to Cuba, which was so near to our slave States 
as to forbid that our Government should permit the slavery of that 
island to be abolished ; and necessity would compel us to prevent such 
a disaster by engaging in war ; or we must permit that beautiful island 
to pass into the possession of England. 

The final ratification of the treaty by which Spain ceded the Floridas 
to the United States constituted one of the important incidents in the 
regime of slavery during the year 1821. 

Throughout the slaveholding portion of the Union it was well known 
that the "Maroons," or "fugitive slaves" who had so long resided in 
the wilds of Florida that no witnesses could identify them, were exerting 
a deleterious influence on the slaves of South Carolina, Georgia, Ala- 
bama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The bondsmen of these States as well 
a* those of Florida were leaving their masters and seeking an asylum 
With their friends who had long been resident in the territory. 

The destruction of Blount's Fort in 1816, and the War of 1818, had 
re' ily effected nothing but to constrain the exiles to retire further to the 
in: rior of the country. And the purchase of the territory was urged 
by the people of the surrouuding States, in order to save them from the 



78 MAROONS OF FLORIDA. 

constant annoyance to which they were subjected by the loss of fugitive 
bondmen. 

1822.] S° on as the Floridas came into our possession, the question arose 

in the minds of the President and his Cabinet, as to the disposal 
of these people. They were supposed to be fugitives, or the descendants 
of fugitive slaves. But most of them had resided there from their birth— ' 
indeed, three or four generations had passed away since their ancestors 
had fled from South Carolina, and it were now impossible to identify 
any one as a slave, or as the descendant of a slave. Moreover, the 
Spanish crown had recognized them as citizens ; had granted them lands 
and treated them as subjects ; and their rights were protected by the 
treaty in the same manner and to the same extent that the rights of the 
white people of the territory were protected ; and by no rule of inter- 
national law could our Government treat them otherwise than they 
treated the white inhabitants. Yet they had harbored the slaves of 
Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, and in all probability would 
continue to do so. The President, therefore, called on Mr. Panniers, 
sub-agent for the Florida Indians, for his opinion as to the disposition to 
be made of these people. He replied in the following language : 

" It will be difficult (says he) to form a prudent determination with 
respect to the maroon negroes who live among the Indians on the other 
side of the little mountain of Latchione. They fear being again made 
slaves by the American Government, and will omit nothing to increase 
or keep alive mistrust among the Indians, whom they in fact govern. If 
it should become necessary to use force with them, it is feared the In- 
dians will take their part. It will, however, be necessary to remove 
from the Floridas this group of freebooters, among whom runaway 
negroes will always find a refuge. It will, perhaps, be possible to have 
them received at St. Domingo, or to furnish them the means of with- 
drawing from the United States." 

It had long been the evident intention of the people of Georgia to 
reenslave them. Indeed, as the reader has been informed, she once sent 
an army to effect that object, and had insisted upon the purchase of 
Florida solely for that purpose ; but when the subject came thus before 
the President, that high official hesitated, and consulted Mr. Panniers, 
whose humanity evidently revolted at the proposition ; but he so far 
yielded his sense of justice to the interests of slavery, as to advise their 
removal. 

General Jackson was also called on to express his opinion on the sub- 
ject. He had, in 1 8 1 6, complied with the wishes of the people of Georgia ; 
had ordered Blount's Fort to be destroyed, and the fugitive slaves 



MAKOONS TO BE EEMOVED. 79 

taken back to their masters. But he had found them ready to defend 
their liberty with their lives. He had fought with them at Suwanee ; 
had witnessed their courage and daring ; had seen his own disciplined 
and gallant army held at defiance, and his men fall before their deadly 
fire on the battle field ; he well understood their hatred of slavery ; 
and he answered the inquiry propounded to him, saying, "These run- 
axoay slaves spoken of by Mr. Panniers must be removed from the Floridas, 
or scenes of murder and confusion will exist."* 

This advice was adopted as the policy of the administration. In 
order to subserve the interests of slavery, our treaty with Spain was 
violated, almost as soon as made, the rights of these people were out- 
raged, and the long and tedious war which eventually followed, the 
vast expenditure of blood and treasure incurred to sustain the interests 
of slavery in Florida and adjoining States, will long constitute an inter- 
esting page in American history. 

Early in the first session of the eighteenth Congress, resolu- 
tions were adopted, calling on the President for information [1823 ' 
touching any arrangements which that high officer had made with other 
governments for suppressing the slave trade. In response, the Executive 
transmitted a mass of documents, which were committed to a select com- 
mittee, who reported a bill to carry out and consummate the work of 
abolishing that traffic ; but it was neither debated nor acted upon. 

The protection of the people of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and 
Mississippi against constant losses by the exodus of slaves, appears to 
have presented the most absorbing and difficult questions for the consid- 
eration of our Government. Thirty years had now elapsed since this 
burden of sustaining slavery was assumed by Congress, and it had con- 
stantly become more and more onerous, more and more vexatious and 
disgraceful ; but having engaged in the work, the Executive dared not 
hesitate or falter ; and to carry it forward, an arrangement with the 
Florida Indians became necessary. 

The treaty of Camp Moultrie was entered into, by which the Indians 
agreed to remove south of a line to be drawn due east from "Tampa 
Bay." This greatly contracted their possessions, and would have 
brought many of the maroons under the exclusive jurisdiction of the 
United States, but the-" Seminole Indians" and "Seminole negroes" 
had become so far connected by association and intermarriage, that they 

* It will be noticed that the word « maroons « used by Mr. Panniers, was discarded by General 
Jackson, as when used in Jamaica it referred to «>" negroes of the mountains 'who hfd long 
mam a med he. hberty that they could not be identified as slaves, and General Jackson preferred 
to call the Florida maroons ''fugitive slaves." "errea 



80 SOUTH AMEEICAN STATES. 

could not be separated. They both moved south, according to treaty 
stipulation. The United States, in consideration of this removal, 
covenanted " to restrain and prevent all white persons from hunting, 
settling, or otherwise intruding upon the lands" thus set apart for the 
use of the Seminoles : and the Seminoles also stipulated to return such 
fugitive slaves as should Jlee to them. 

At the opening of the nineteenth Congress, the President 
(John Quiucy Adams), in his annual message, called the atten- 
tion of Congress to the condition of Mexico, Central America, and 
Columbia. These governments had achieved their independence, and 
were recognized as sovereign powers. The President stated that 
they now proposed to hold a Congress of Nations at Panama, and 
had invited our Government to send commissioners to meet them, and 
deliberate on such subjects as would be consistent with our mutual 
position, and calculated to advance the interests of our people. He 
further stated that he had accepted the invitation, and would, in due 
season, transmit to the Senate the names of three commissioners to 
represent us in the proposed conference ; and he soon after sent the 
names of John Sargeant, William B. Rochester, and Richard C. 
Anderson, whom he nominated to the Senate for confirmation as com- 
missioners. 

The debate in that body was of course in secret session, but 
the injunction of secresy having been removed, we find that 
ceaseless vigilance guarded the portals of slavery. Mr. Adams had 
never possessed the confidence of slaveholders, and this proposition 
was regarded with suspicion. The governments referred to had adopted 
the primal truths enunciated in our Declaration of Independence, as the 
vitalizing principles on which they founded their hopes and expectation* 
and southern statesmen feared that the independence of Hayti, of Porto 
Rico, and of Cuba, might come under consideration, and the means of 
freeing them from foreign rule might be considered in the proposed Con- 
gress ; and, if once free from foreign rule, the abolition of slavery would 
follow, and the moral influence of liberty in those islands would prove 
injurious to the slave interest in our own States. 

The liberation of Cuban slaves was denounced by slaveholders as alto- 
gether destructive to the slave States, and the man who could coolly 
look upon emancipation in that island, they asserted, " must be an incen- 
diary, a fanatic, and traitor to our institutions." Never was sluvehold- 
ing arrogance more offensively displayed than in this debate. It was 
contended that the independence of Cuba was not to be thought of, 
while our southern States should see fit to hold slaves. That during the 



THEIR DEVOTION TO LIBERTY DENOUNCED. 81 

existence of the institution in the southern States, the people of the 
other members of the Confederacy must conform to that condition of 
things. They now urged that the commercial interests of New England 
and New York had been surrendered, in order that southern slaves might 
be protected from the moral influence of emancipation in Hayti, and 
'they extolled the gracefulness with which northern men had surrendered 
the interests of freedom that slavery might thrive. But they charged 
the South American States with holding the doctrine that " all men, 
black and tohite, were endowed with an imprescriptible right to enjoy life 
and liberty," and they urged that we could not hold intercourse with 
them, without in some degree being affected by their doctrines. These 
advocates qf slavery denounced Wilberforce and Clarkson and other 
English philanthropists as "visionary theorists," and asserted that 
English statesmen now discarded the doctrines of human rights as set 
forth by European publicists. They asserted that our own statesmen 
no longer held the doctrines enunciated in our Declaration of Independ- 
ence ; and assumed that northern statesmen now acknowledged the 
obligation of our Government to sustain slavery. The President, Mr. 
Adams, was personally assailed and bitterly denounced. Mr. Clay, then 
Secretary of State, did not escape reproof, though he was himself a 
slaveholder.* Mr. Sargeant, one of the commissioners nominated, was 
declared to be an abolitionist, who had manifested his hostility to slavery 
by opposing its existence in Missouri. The debate continued until twelve 
o'clock at night, when the vote was taken on approving the nominations 
of Messrs. Sargeant, Rochester, and Anderson, as commissioners to 
attend the Congress of Panama, and stood 28 in the affirmative to 1& 
in the negative. Messrs. Bentonf and Barton, of Missouri ; Clayton 
and Yandyke, of Delaware ; Johnson, of Kentucky ; Floyd and Smith, 
of Maryland ; and Bouligney, of Louisiana, voting with Senators from 
the free States ; while Messrs. Holmes and Chandler, of Maine, and . 
Van Buren, of New York, voted with the slaveholders. 

In the House of Representatives, a resolution was offered calling on 

• It was the severity of Mr. Randolph's strictures upon the personal and political character of 
Mr. Clay, during this debate, which called forth the challenge to mortal combat which took place 
between those gentlemen in April, a.d. 1S26. 

t It is a somewhat singular fact, that while our Congressional annals show Mr. Benton to hare 
voted in favor of the confirmation of the three commissioners, he represents himself as voting 
against that proposition, and speaks of only two commissioners, Messrs. Sargeant and Anderson. 
Vide " Thirty Years in the Senate," page 62, vol. i. It was during this debate that Mr. Benton first 
avowed his own conviction that our Governmental policy had been established in favor of the slave 
interest ; that it could not and ought not to be changed or altered ;. a conviction which the author 
had reason to know continued during his life. Indeed, uncompromising adherence to early convic- 
tions characterized the whole life of that statesman, and gave direction to till hia political conduct. 

6 



82 THEIE DOCTRINES COMMENDED. 

the Executive for such correspondence as may have been had between 
our Government and the Republics of Colombia, Central America, and 
Mexico. On this resolution a long debate arose. But while southern 
representatives exhibited the same .arrogant spirit which had been mani- 
fested in the Senate, it is due to the members from the North to say- 
that the rights of freemen, the doctrines of the Constitution, and 
the interests of the free States; were far more ably supported than in 
the Senate. 

It was during this debate that Mr. Miuer, of Pennsylvania, made his 
debut in the House of Representatives. He offered a resolution declar- 
ing "sympathy with those republics, inasmuch as they had adopted the 
equal rights of mankind as the basis of tlieir several organizations."* Hon. 
Silas Wood, of New York, also ably sustained the resolution of Mr. 
Miner, which was rejected, while that calling for the correspondence 
was adopted by a large majority. 

The subject was again debated in the House of Representatives on 
the bill making appropriations to defray the expenses of the mission, and 
occupied the attention of that body some three weeks, during which 
time no new arguments were elicited ; yet the report occupies more than 
120 pages in our Congressional documents. In this debate many indi- 
viduals participated, who subsequently became distinguished statesmen 
in our nation. In the report of the speeches delivered on that subject we 
have some of the finest specimens of rhetoric, and the best illustrations 
of character, to be met with in our Congressional archives. Yet this 
contest resulted in agreeing to the proposed mission, with no other 
advantages arising from it than a further development of the arrogance 
and policy of the slave-power. 

1827.] ^h° long-pending controversy between our Government and 

that of Great Britain respecting deported slaves, or those colored 
persons who were carried from the United States at the termination of 
the War of 1812, was brought to a close during the year to which 
we are referring. By the award of the Emperor of Russia, the Execu- 
tive obtained more than $1,200,000 as a compensation for those 
persons whose' slaves were carried away at the close of that war, 
while no indemnity was either asked or obtained for those persons in 

* The introduction of this resolution is believed to have constituted the first distinct proposition 
offered in Congress, reiterating the sentiment in favor of liberty which inspired the patriots of 1776. 
Other members had expressed these sentiments, and had given evidence of having cherished them, 
but none had presented propositions declaring them nati&n&l. Mr. Miner may truly be said to 
have commenced the work of reforming our Government when he presented this resolution— a 
work which he continued to prosecute while he remained in Congress— and may properly be regarded 
as leading in the great reformation which, after many years of strife, finally resulted in freeing the 
people from the crimes of slavery. 



A CITIZEN OF NEW TOEK ENSLAVED. 83 

our northern States who were rendered bankrupt by the burning 
of then- buildings and their goods by the enemy. Nor was such in- 
demnity demanded for those whose sons, brothers, or fathers had been 
slain in battle. Indeed, the more we examine the records of that day 
the more clearly do we see that slavery was held by those iu power to 
be above, and to be sustained, if necessary, at the expense of all other 
interests. 

But, as if to test the forbearance of the northern people, a colored 
man, named Gilbert Horton, a respectable citizen of West Chester 
County, New York, while on business in Washington City, demeaning 
himself peacefully, was seized and imprisoned under pretence that he was 
suspected of being a fugitive slave. Unable at the moment to show him- 
self a freeman, he was held in prison, and advertised to be sold in pay- 
ment of his jail fees— not that he was unable to pay them himself, but 
because the laws in force there were intended to enslave all colored per- 
sons who should fail to prove their freedom ; and this law was sustained 
and kept in force by Congress at the dictation of slaveholders, who in- 
sisted that the interests of slavery demanded its continuance. This 
advertising a free and respectable citizen of New York for sale as a 
slave at our national metropolis, under and in pursuance of an act of 
Congress, excited great indignation among the people of that State. 
Early in the following session, Mr. Ward, iii the House of Representa- 
tives, presented a resolution directing the Committee on the District of 
Columbia to inquire whether any law was in force therein authorizing 
the imprisonment and sale of free colored citizens of the United States? 
Mr. Ward declared that he could not believe any law had existence, 
either in the District of Columbia or in any State, thus violative of the 
Federal Constitution. He had supposed that the fifth amendment of the 
Constitution meant just what it declared, " That no person (black or 
white) should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process 
of law:' He declared that such a law in the District of Columbia must 
reflect upon those members of Congress who kept it in force ; and 
he cautioned- southern gentlemen that the northern people could hardly 
be expected to capture and return fugitive slaves while northern freemen 
were thus captured and enslaved. 

Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, attempted to ridicule the feeling expressed 
by Mr. Ward, declaring that that gentleman might find the same senti- 
ments expressed in some ballad, entitled, " The Sun-Stricken Outcasts 
°f Africa," in the " delta crusca album of some boarding-school miss." 

Mr. Letcher, of Kentucky, thought that no such law existed in the 
District ; but Mr. Dorsey, of Maryland, assured him there was such a 



84 



ENSLAVEMENT OF FREEMEN EXPOSED. 



law — that it had been enacted in 1*115 — and he proceeded to give a con- 
cise history of the legislation on this subject up to the organization of 
the District, assuring the House that the law had remained, and was re- 
enacted by Congress, in 1801, substantially as it had existed from 1115. 

The debate now assumed a serious character. Southern members de- 
clared that colored persons were not " citizens " under the Federal Consti- 
tution, and repeated the arguments advanced by them on the admission 
of Missouri. Northern members did not meet this poinf with the ability 
manifested six years previously ; but they declared the enslavement of 
persons, whether colored or white, to be barbarous and inhuman. 

Mr. Miner, of Pennsylvania, asserted that the facts were too important 
to be treated lightly ; and he proceeded to show that, in 1824, there 
were committed to the jail in Washington City fifty-two persons suspected 
of being runaway slaves, and eighty-one colored persons committed by 
their supposed masters for safe-keeping ; that, during the following year, 
fifty-eight persons were committed on suspicion of being runaway slaves, 
and one hundred and twenty-four were committed by their supposed 
owners for safe keeping ; that, of the one hundred and ten runaways, 
fifteen had proven themselves free, paid the expenses of their imprison- 
ment, and were discharged, three of those who were free had been unable 
to pay expenses, and were sold into slavery,* and the two hundred and five 
imprisoned by their masters were sold probably to the southern States. 
He asserted that the jail, built at the expense of the United States, was 
extensively used for the purposes of the domestic slave trade. He had 
himself visited the prison, and seen the victims of this infamous traffic. 
One woman, who was the mother of nine children, had seen the six 
oldest sold from her as they arrived at an age to command good prices ; 
and, at last, she was herself, with the three youngest, imprisoned for the 
southern market, under the laws adopted and kept in force by Congress: 
and those imprisoned in the public jail constituted a very small propor- 
tion of the victims who were imprisoned and sold in the city, as, in various 
parts of it, prisons were used for the . traffic by the various dealers 
in human flesh, who pursued their accursed vocation under protection of 
Congressional enactment. 

Southern members regretted the language used by Mr. Miner, but no 
one denied his facts or his doctrines, and the resolution of Mr. Ward was 
adopted by a large majority. 

Fifteen days subsequently, Mr. Powel, from the committee, reported a 

* This is perhaps the only official record of the enslavement of free persons under the authority 
of Oowjresx, but the records of the Government lead us to believe that thousands of free persona 
iu the United States were seized and enslaved under authority of Congressional enactments. 



PROPERTY IN HUMAN FLESH. 85 

bill requiring the corporation in which any colored person should be 
arrested under suspicion of being a fugitive to pay the costs, if the person 
so arrested proved to be free, and repealing the law of Maryland which 
had been enacted one hundred and ten years previously. The bill was 
committed to a committee of the whole House, but was no more heard 
of ; and the slave trade, with its attendant crimes, continued to disgrace 
the men, the city, and the nation that sustained it. 

At the time to which we now refer, all the slave States, by 
their constitutions and laws, declared slaves to be property. Their 
people and statesmen were educated in the conviction that human gov- 
ernments possessed legitimate powers to transform men created in the 
image of God into chattels. 

The free States, in all their constitutions, laws, and in the education of 
their people, inculcated the doctrine that human beings were clearly dis- 
tinguished from the brute creation, both in phyiscal form and mental ex- 
istence ; that the line of demarkation drawn by the Creator between 
men and things was so distinct, so wide, so deep, that human governments 
could not obliterate it. From the commencement of the Government, 
tlnveholders had manifested a dissatisfaction with this doctrine, univer- 
sally adhered to by the Christian world, and constituting the basis of all 
free governments. They determined that Congress should recognize the 
authority of the slave States to change the status of Africans, to trans- 
form them into property, and for that purpose presented the following 



case 



In December, 1814, while the British forces were approaching New 
Orleans, General Jackson, commander of the American army, ordered 
the impressment of horses, carts and slaves, for the erection of defensive 
works to protect the city. A horse, cart and slave of the claimant, 
Marigney D'Autrieve, was impressed, and while employed in erecting 
batteries the slave was wounded, the horse killed and the cart destroyed 
by the cannon shot of the enemy, and the owner presented his memorial 
to Congress for indemnity. The Committee on Claims reported a bill 
giving compensation for the horse and cart, but in their report which ac- 
companied the bill, they stated that " the Government had not regarded 
slaves as property, nor paid for them when lost in the public service." 

When the bill came up for consideration in committee of the whole 
House, Mr. Livingston, of Louisiana, moved an amendment granting 
compensation for the loss of the negro's services while confined by his 
wound, and for expenses in doctoring and nursing him. 

Thus was the claim of indemnity for the loss of the slave's labor fairly 
presented by one of the learned and influential members from the slave 



86 THE ISSUE FORMED. 

States. He was one of the most eminent jurists of the nation. Bern 
and educated in New York, he selected New Orleans as his residence, 
and now, holding a seat in Congress, he wielded an influence over both 
slave and free States. He spoke boldly and directly to the point, de- 
claring the question vital to the existence of the slave States ; said he 
could not believe the committee intended to establish the doctrine that 
slaves " were not property." He then maintained by historical facts, that 
the institution existed prior to the Constitution ; that all the States savo 
one or two treated slaves as property, and all of the present slave States 
declared them such by their laws ; that the Constitution gave no au- 
thority for the Federal Government to interfere with them in any man- 
ner, the States holding them independently of the Federal Government, 
as legal property. If taken for the public use they must be paid for. 
The committee (said he) assert " they are not property." What are 
they then ? If they are not our property, we have no right to their 
services, and they are legally free. He then maintained the sovereignty 
of the States and the sacreduess of State rights, and concluded by an 
expression of his confidence that the amendment would be adopted. 

Fortunately for our institutions, and for the cause of humanity, there 
were members of that body who had associated with the framers of the 
Constitution, had caught the spirit and retained something of the patri- 
otism of that heroic age — men who were contemporaries of Madison, and 
recollected the memorable words of that great statesman, when in con- 
vention he declared " it would be wrong to admit in the Constitution, 
that man can hold property in man." 

Much interest was felt, and some anxiety was manifested in various 
parts of the House, as members came to reflect upon the importance of 
the question presented. 

Mr. Whittlesey, of Ohio, a member of the Committee on Claims, had 
reported the bill, and he was now expected to defend it and to vindicate 
the action of the committee. He, too, was a lawyer of some reputation, 
a man of facts and figures rather than a rhetorician. He possessed an 
indomitable industry, which had, even at that day, given him an influ- 
ence, particularly in the department of private claims. Possessing great 
integrity of character, he was at all times unassuming, and had never as- 
pired to the position of a " speaking member." But with him duty was 
imperative, and he did not falter in meeting the distinguished gentleman 
who moved the amendment. He spoke like a lawyer who had prepared 
his case for hearing. Avoiding all reference to fundamental principles, 
he applied himself to the law of the case. He gave a succinct history of 
every claim for the loss of slaves that had come before the committee 



THE QUESTION AEGUED. 87 

since the adoption of the Constitution. He cited every report that had 
been made, either in print or in manuscript, and showed that one rule 
had governed them, and that was a rule of constant and uudeviating re- 
jection of every claim for slaves or for the labor of slaves, although lost 
in the public service. He stated that the question had been presented 
to the House only once since the adoption of the Constitution ; that was 
in 1816, when considering a bill to indemnify persons for property lost in 
the public service ; a gentleman from South Carolina had then moved 
an amendment authorizing payment for slaves, but the proposition had 
been rejected by an overwhelming majority. 

It now became evident that if the amendment of Mr. Livingston were 
adopted, the past construction of the Constitution must be overturned, 
and it was clearly seen that serious work was before the House. But 
Mr. Whittlesey was sustained by Mr. McCoy, a slaveholder of Yirginia, 
also a member of the committee, the only man who spoke against the 
amendment attempted in 1816. It was also known that Mr. Williams, 
of North Carolina, a man of great experience, and chairman of the com- 
mittee, also concurred in the report. These circumstances added much 
weight to the argument of Mr. Whittlesey. 

But, nothing daunted by these considerations, slaveholding members, 
with apparent confidence, asserted the former practice of the House to 
have been wrong and unjust. All nations had held slaves, even the 
chosen people of God had set the example. All had regarded them as 
"property ;" the people of the slave States regarded them as property, 
and they insisted that it was unjust for the Federal Government to inter- 
fere with the institution in any manner. They asserted that the States 
would not permit their institution to be broken down in that way. They 
denounced northern members for agitating the quwtion of property in 
slaves ; said it was a delicate question, that ought not to be debated. 
The Constitution had given the Federal Government no authority to in- 
terfere with it. On the contrary, it had recognized the institution, had 
given it a representation in Congress, had authorized the slave trade 
for twenty years, and by the treaty of Ghent we had covenanted with 
England that in withdrawing her army from the United States, they 
should "not carry away any negroes or other property of the inhab- 
itants." 

To these arguments it was replied that the Scriptures scarcely men- 
tioned the term "slave," even historically. They spoke of "servants," 
and those were white persons ; that no such institution as African slavery 
was known to the Jews. It was true, however, that Rome and Greece, 
aud other ancient governments, in the darker and more barbarous ages, 



88 THE DOCTRINE UNCONSTITUTIONAL. 

held slaves ; and as a just retribution for such violation of the natural 
law, they had disappeared from the face of the earth, and such must and 
would be the case with every other nation that should follow their exam- 
ples. Modern civilization discarded the institution as a relic of barbar- 
ism. Philosophers and Christians held that the Divine Will constituted 
the law of nature, by which every human soul was entitled to live, and to 
so much liberty as was necessary to cherish, support and defend his own 
personal existence ; that the slave States and free States united in de- 
claring that doctrine to be the very basis of the Union, of the Federal 
G overnment, in which all were equally interested. That, maintaining 
this doctrine, the Constitution, referring to slaves, had recognized them as 
persons, and not as property. Then, as southern gentlemen had said, 
slaves entered into the enumeration constituting the basis of representa- 
tion, but they were in that very clause referred to as " other persons," 
placed in the same category with their masters, but in no instance did 
the Constitution refer to them as " property." Indeed, at the framing of 
that Instrument, Mr. Madison said it would be wrong to admit that 
"men can hold property in men," and not a member dissented from the 
proposition : 

That history and the language of the Constitution showed that a gen- 
eral aversion to the slave trade existed at the time of framing that instru- 
ment, and that Georgia and South Carolina demanded protection against 
any prohibition of it for twenty years, on account of the detestation in 
which it was held by all Christian nations. Therein our fathers erred. 
They should never have protected that infamous traffic against the dic- 
tates of justice for one hour. They should have prohibited, or at least 
they should have left it unprotected and permitted it to fall in the ordi- 
nary manner, befor^ the advancement of Christian civilization. As to 
the justice of this claim, it were impossible to show any justice in paying 
the claimant for the suffering, the wounds, the death of another man. 
The negro, while serving the public, had received an injury, had been 
subjected to pain and suffering, and if payment be made to any one, it 
should certainly be to him who suffered, and not to a third person, who 
kept clear of danger when his country needed his service. Again, in the 
recent war, sons, brothers, husbands and fathers, residing in the free 
States, had contributed their money, their time, their lives, in defending 
the Government in which the people of all the States were interested. 
They had died. But what father, or brother, or wife, or orphan had 
ever demanded compensation ? Yet southern statesmen would now tax 
those bereaved fathers, brothers, widows and orphans, to pay this master 
for the loss of his slave. " That would not be just." 



SOUTHERN MEMBERS EXCITED. 89 

It was insisted that General Jackson did right in impressing the slaves 
at New Orleans. His proceedings were reported to the War Depart- 
ment, and were approved by the President, who was himself a slave- 
holder, and who exerted more influence in framing the Constitution than 
any other member. His sanction was therefore important. Nor can 
the justice of General Jackson be doubted when we reflect that this mas- 
ter and the people of New Orleans did not themselves take any part in 
the defence of their city, but left that hazardous service to the freemen, 
of other States. Indeed, one third of the population of the slave States 
are in bondage, and it were unjust that freemen should go South, meet 
the invaders and die upon the battle-field in order that the planters may 
safely and securely keep their slaves at work upon their plantations. 
Those laborers were "persons," oppressed, degraded, outraged and 
wronged ; yet they were persons, possessing hopes of heaven and fears of 
hell, were capable of committing crime and were rJVmished in all the 
States. To wantonly slay a slave was murder, to enslave an African 
on his own soil was piracy under our national laws : 

That the treaty of Ghent had stipulated that the British army should 
not carry 'away negroes or other property of the inhabitants, but that 
was only the sense of the treaty-making power, and not of the Govern- 
ment ; yet had it stipulated that they should not carry away any " white 
men," it would have had the same effect to transform them into property 
as it had to change negroes into chattels. 

The debate had become earnest. • The ablest men of the nation en- 
gaged in it. The most breathless attention was bestowed on every 
speaker. A profound interest, and even deep solemnity rested on every 
countenance, when suddenly John Randolph, of Virginia, sprang to the 
floor. His effeminate voice, now raised to its utmost volume, rang 
shrilly through the hall, and pointing his long finger towards the Speaker, 
he exclaimed, " Lex ita scripta est, the point is settled, and you may cant 
to the end of the chapter. We do not depend on your views of 
humanity or religion, and when you deny that our slaves are our pro- 
perty, we shall not be found in this hall, we shall be found at home with 
arms in our hands." He proceeded to lecture southern members for 
consenting to argue the question, and declared it to be their true policy 
to hold no controversy oa the subject. He next proceeded to an elabo- 
rate examination of the whole subject. 

This example was followed by other members, who proclaimed the so- 
lemn determination of the entire South not to permit this question to be 
discussed. Perhaps no incident better illustrates " the madness of the 
hour," than the solemn assurance by Mr. Drayton, of South Carolina, 



00 VALUE OF THE UNION. 

that when this question should be agitated, the slave States would " con- 
sider the value of the Union." Yet every member who preceded him in 
debate, whether from the North or from the South, had discussed it, 
and none more elaborately than himself. 

The discussion continued two weeks and was maintained with great 
ability on both sides. At length the question was taken on the amend- 
ment granting compensation for the loss of the slave's service, etc., and 
it was carried by a majority of three votes. Messrs. Ripley and Wright, 
of Maine; Barker and Healy, of New Hampshire; Everett, Gorham, 
Hodges andVarnum, of Massachusetts; Cambrelling, Johnson, Verplank 
and Silas Wood, of New York; Fry Kremer, Miller, Stephens, Souther 
land and Vanhorn, of Pennsylvania; Blake and Irving, of Indiana, voting 
with the slaveholders, while several members from the free States did not 
vote. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, Ohio and Il- 
linois, were dishonored by no voice in favor of transforming immortal be- 
ings into property. 

Nor did the engrossment of the bill with the objectionable amendment 
discourage northern members. They recollected that southern represen- 
tatives had established slavery in Missouri by their unyielding firmness 
under the most discouraging circumstances, and they determined to op- 
pose to the last a proposition intended to transform our free government 
into a slave-sustaining oligarchy. 

The bill came up the next day for its final passage, when the Speaker 
with great solemnity propounded the parliamentary questiou, " shall this 
bill pass ?" In answer to this interrogatory, the debate was resumed with 
even greater earnestness than had been previously manifested. Young 
members from the free States, who had not previously appeared in de- 
bate, now spoke against the amendment with consummate ability. This 
firmness, this moral heroism, caused southern members to hesitate. North- 
ern members who had not possessed sufficient courage to vote either way, 
now appeared anxious to vote; and a motion was made to recommit the 
bill to a select committee for the purpose of striking out the amendment 
previously inserted, granting compensation for the loss of the slave's la- 
bor and the expenses of doctoring and nursing him. The proposition was 
sustained ; the bill was recommitted ; the amendment stricken out ; aud 
the bill as it was originally reported by Mr. Whittlesey, was again reported 
to the House. It simply gave D'Autrieve compensation for his horse, cart 
and some firewood, but made no mention of the slave, or of his labor, or 
of the expense of doctoring him, and in this form it passed both Houses 
of Congress and became a law. The doctrine that human souls and bodies 
may be transformed into property was rejected, as an infidelity unworthy 



THE DOCTRINE OVERRULED. 91 

of a Christian government. The lovers of liberty breathed more freely. 
They felt more self-respect when conscious that they had merited the re- 
spect of the country and of mankind. 

But this result was extremely mortifying to southern members. They 
had constantly insisted that slaves were property ; and if they were to be 
regarded as persons, those who held them in bondage must of course be 
regarded as oppressors and despots; and the civilized world would so 
regard them. In order to relieve southern men as far as possible, Mr. 
Hall, of North Carolina, introduced a resolution instructing the Commit- 
tee on the Judiciary to inquire as to the propriety of reporting a bill de- 
claring what should be, and what should not be, regarded as property. 
The House quietly sent the resolution to the committee, but they made 
no report, and the subject was no more agitated during that session. 

The doctrine of property in mankind, however, was sustained r 1829 
by the judiciary of that day. In 1819, a vessel called a " Vene- 
zuelan privateer" was fitted out at Baltimore. She was in fact a pirate 
disguised under the Yenezuelan flag. She captured several vessels en- 
gaged in the slave trade, sailing under various flags, one of which proved 
to be " The Antelope" of Cuba. Taking the captured slaves on board 
that vessel, she sailed for our southern coast in order to sell her slaves to 
the planters of our southern States, but was captured by one of our 
revenue cutters and taken to Savannah for adjudication. 

On landing the slaves the captors were compelled to enter into bonds 
for reexporting them if they proved to be their properly. The ship and 
cargo being libelled in the District Court of Georgia, the Consuls of Spain 
and Portugal claimed the slaves taken from Spanish and Portuguese ships, 
not however as citizens or subjects of those governments, but as the pro- 
perty of the persons who had brought them from Africa. 

When this case came before a slaveholding judge whose education had 
qualified him for sustaining the institution, it was seen and felt that the 
slave power had been vigilant in securing the appointment of slavehold- 
ers to fill judicial stations. The judge of the District Court of Georgia 
decided that the slaves were property belonging to those who brought them 
from Africa, On an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, 
that tribunal affirmed the decision of the district judge. The slaves were 
ordered to be delivered to the consuls who claimed them as property; and 
the character and influence of our nation was prostituted to the base 
purpose of restoring to Spanish and Portuguese " pirates" the slaves cap- 
tured and brought from Africa. 

In delivering its opinion, the court referred to no primal truths, nor to 
the essential doctrines of right and xorong. They spoke not of the "Cre- 



92 SUPKEME COURT MAINTAIN IT. 

ator's will," " of natural law" of justice, of inalienable rig/its, of " phi- 
losophic principle," nor of our national honor. Well understood doctrines 
of Grotius, of Puffendorf, of Blackstone, and of Kent, were ignored, passed 
over in silence; and the nation was made the instrument for upholding 
the slave trade of other governments, while our laws punished with death 
all Americans found engaged in it. The decision created astonishment 
among northern statesmen and jurists, who saw plainly that the slave 
power had effectually resisted the progress of civilization, and subsidized 
the judicial branch of government to its support. 

But another question now arose. When the slaves were landed in 
Georgia, Mr. Wilde, a member of Congress from .that State, purchased them 
and entered into bonds for their reexportation, should that become neces- 
sary by the adjudication of the court. 

These facts being matters of record, probably furnish the only direct 
and conclusive proof of the connection between members of the American 
Congress and "pirates" pronounced such by acts of Congress, and 
punishable with death. But it is no part of the historian's duty to 
speculate upou the difference of turpitude between the barbarous 
sailor and the heathenish planter or member of Congress who pur- 
chased the victims and encouraged the vendor to bring more to the 
market. 

Mr. Wilde now petitioned the Congress, of which he was himself a 
member, to pass a law cancelling his bond for exporting the slaves whom 
he had purchased. The petition was presented in the Senate and re- 
ferred to a committee, who reported back a bill directing the bond of 
Mr. Wilde to be cancelled ; but they assigned no reasons for it. The bill, 
however, passed the Senate without any record of yeas and nays, and 
apparently without debate. 

When the bill came up for consideration in the House of Representa- 
tives, Mr. Taylor, of New York, insisted that when the slaves were found 
to have been imported by pirates, they should have been set free. That 
to hold them as slaves were no less moral piracy than to import them, as i 
it was carrying out the intention and consummating the crime of those 
pirates who imported them from Africa. j 

But the bill passed the House of Representatives and became a law. 
And both the judicial and legislative branches of the Federal Government 
were thus prostituted to carrying out the very "piracy" which Congress 
had proclaimed worthy of death. 

. From some cause unknown to the writer, the subject of slavery 

appears to have attracted the attention of the people of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 



GEOKGIA CLAIMS FUGITIVES. 93 

More than a thousand citizens of Washington City petitioned 
Congress for the abolition of slavery and of the slave trade in 
that District. The Quakers of Pennsylvania and other citizens of the 
free States sent to our National Legislature memorials praying for the 
same object. 

Early in January, Mr. Miner, of Pennsylvania, presented in the House 
of Representatives a statement, reciting many facts concerning the slave 
trade then carried on within the District, by way of. preamble to a 
resolution directing the proper committee to inquire into the propriety of 
abolishing the institution and its attendant commerce within the Dis- 
trict. 

When the resolutions came up for consideration, Mr. Miner read 
documents showing the extent to which the slave trade was carried on in 
the city, and describing some of the crimes attending that traffic so 
abhorrent to humanity. He went much farther in specifying the detail 
of crimes, and describing the horrors of this commerce in the bodies of 
our fellow-men than Mr. Randolph had done in 1816. The resolution 
was adopted ; but a slaveholding Speaker had so arranged the committee 
that no report was made on the subject. 

Another interesting incident in the "regime of slavery," occurred 
during the year 1829. The claims of Georgia for slaves lost during the 
war of the Revolution has been noticed. The reader will also recollect 
that by the treaty of New York, in 1789, and by that of Colcrain, in 
1196, the United States assumed the negotiation with the Creek 
Indians for the return of negroes, who had long previously fled to their 
country. They could not, however, perform this part of their compact, 
as the fugitives were in Florida, living with the Seminole Indians, over 
whom the Creeks had no control. 

When our Government obtained possession of Florida, in 1820, the 
people of Georgia became again clamorous for the recovery of their 
slaves, who fled from them forty or fifty years previously, and had settled 
in Florida with the Seminole negroes, who fled from South Carolina in 
1705. 

Many of them were said to have been massacred at " Blount's Fort," 
in -1816 ; but they had nearly all died, leaving offspring whom no one 
could identify as slaves or as the descendants of slaves. Mr. Calhoun, 
Secretary of War, espoused the claims of Georgia, and by his efforts 
pri :cipally the treaty of " Indian Spring " was negotiated with the 
Creeks, in 1821, by which they conveyed to the United States (solely 
fo. the benefit of Georgia) a large tract of their best lands, supposed to 
be ubout five million acres, for which the United States paid them two 



1 



94 GROSS CORRUPTION EXPOSED. 

hundred thousand dollars, at the signing of the treaty ; and agreed to 
hold two hundred and fifty thousand as a trust fund, out of which to 
compensate the claims which the planters of Georgia held for the slaves 
who had voluntarily left them during a former generation. Their num- 
ber and value was to be ascertained by the President of the United 
States, and the amount thus found due was to be paid over to the mas- 
ters or their descendants. 

Accordingly, the President appointed a commissioner to ascer- 
tain the sum which by the treaty was to be thus paid the claim. 
ants, and found it amounted to $109,000, which was duly certified and 
paid. But the slaveholders now claimed the remaining $141,000, which 
was supposed still to remain in the Treasury of the United States ; and 
they memorialized Congress for that purpose. Pending this memorial, 
charges of fraud were made against the commissioners who negotiated 
the treaty, against the governor and commissioners of Georgia, and the 
commissioner who had been appointed to ascertain the value of the 
claims. President Adams directed the Attorney-General to examine 
the subject and report upon the facts. 

The Attorney-General, however, did not extend his examination to the 
original treaties between Georgia and the Creeks, which were said to 
have been obtained by gross corruption, from vagabond Indians, who 
possessed no authority to negotiate such treaties, nor in any way to bind 
the tribe nor to act for them. But he showed conclusively that the 
commissioner appointed by President Monroe estimated the price of the 
slaves at from two to three times their real value, and that fifty thousand 
dollars would cover all actual claims contemplated by the treaty, with- 
out referring to the fraudulent basis on which they were founded. 

Notwithstanding this exposure, the slaveholders persisted in their 
claims for the remaining $141,000, which was apparently retained in the 
Treasury of the United States, in trust for the Creek Indians. 

But when the subject again came under debate, it was shown that the 
entire sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars stipulated by the 
treaty, to be held as surety for the payment of such sums as should be 
found due the slaveholders of Georgia, had been paid over to them 
immediately upon the approval of the treaty ; and that not one dollar 
of it now remained in the Treasury. But this stupendous fraud involved 
high officers of Government. The Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. 
Crawford, was himself a Georgian, and it is difficult to understand at 
this day how he could have been ignorant of the real character of the 
transaction. Mr. Calhoun had been active in obtaining the treaty, had 
exhibited an intense feeling on the subject, and as he understood the real 



RIDICULOUS SUBTERFUGE. 



95 



character of the treaties between Georgia and the Indians, and knew 
that these slaves had never been with the Creeks, we cannot, in our 
minds, exonerate him from a participation in this vast slaveholding pecu- 
lation. Of the other participants we have no time to speak par- 
ticularly. 

The House of Representatives being informed of these facts, appeared 
unwilling to pass the bill giving the claimants the $141,000 which, until 
this exposure, was supposed to be in the Treasury of the United States; 
but which had been fraudulently paid to the slaveholders of Georgia 
eight years previously. 

General Jackson came into power in 1829. From that time the 
legislation of Congress was for many years controlled by party discipline, 
and whatever the democratic party approved in caucus was sustained by 
Congress. 

In 1832 the subject of this fraud upon the nation was again brought 
up and referred to a select committee. Mr. Stevenson, a slaveholder 
from Virginia, being Speaker, appointed Mr. Gilmer, of Georgia, chair- 
man of the committee. He made an elaborate report, in which he 
arrived at the conclusion that the claimants were entitled to the 
$141,000, as a compensation for the off spring which the female slaves would 
have home to their masters had t/iey remained in bondage; and the report 
was accompanied by a bill for that purpose. 

This shameful excuse for consummating a disgraceful fraud was pub- 
lished in the documentary proceedings of the day ; but it is believed 
that no newspaper informed its readers of the character of this transac- 
tion. The bill now passed, so far as we are informed, without debate, 
was sent to the Senate, and received the concurrence of that body, was 
approved by President Jackson, and became a law. 

Mr. Adams and his administration had exposed the character of these 
claims, and thereby defeated the bill which was now approved by his 
successor. 



96 J. Q. ADAMS IN CONGKESS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

T.'IE NATION INVOLVED IN WAR FOR THE SUPPORT OF SLAVERY AND THE 

SENATE ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE THE INTERNATIONAL LAW FOR THE PURPOSE 
OF CONSTRAINING THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO SUPPORT THE SLAVE TRADE. 

1881 , The influence which the slave States were exerting upon Con- 

gress and the Government attracted the attention of the people 
of the northern portion of the Union. In some of the .free States 
" abolition societies" were formed. Indeed, some of these organizations 
had existed from the adoption of the Constitution, and all were now 
aroused to action, endeavoring to awake the public mind to the crimes 
of slavery, and the fact that these crimes were encouraged by the Fed- 
eral Government. 

The ship "Francis Tod," of Newburyport, Massachusetts, had taken 
on board, at Baltimore, a cargo of slaves for the New Orleans market. 
William L. Garrison, a devoted friend of liberty, exposed this domestic 
piracy, by a statement of the facts connected with the transaction, 
in a newspaper then published in Baltimore. He was indicted and 
convicted of libel for thus informing the public of the manner in 
which the slave trade was sustained and encouraged by the shipowners 
of Massachusetts. He was imprisoned a sufficient time to give notoriety 
to the fact that in Baltimore it was regarded as an offence to publish 
transactions concerning slavery and the slave trade, which were author- 
ized by law of Congress. 

Petitions for the abolition of the coastwise slave trade now became 
so common that it would be unjust to the reader were his attention 
called to each separate memorial. Mr. Garrison, who had invoked public 
attention to that subject, soon became distinguished as a reformer ; and 
being sustained by the philanthropists of New England, he continued his 
efforts with great ability and zeal. 

Hon. John Quincy Adams appeared in Congress, representing the 
Congressional district in which he was born. He had served his country 
as a Senator, as Foreign Minister, as Secretary of State, and when his 
mind had become mature and enlarged by great experience, he had filled 
the Executive chair with honor to himself and the nation, and he now en- 
tered upon a Congressional career, more beneficial to his country than any 
portion of his previous life. 



MK. "WEBSTER AVOIDS THE ISSUE. 97 

Early in the session be presented fifteen memorials, praying the aboli- 
tion of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia. He 
took occasion to say, on presenting these petitions, that whatever might 
be his opinion of slavery in the abstract, or of slavery in the District of 
Columbia, it was a subject which he hoped would not be discussed in that 
House. If it should be, he might, perhaps, assign the reason why he 
should give it no support.* The petitions were referred to the committee 
on the District of Columbia. A few days afterwards, Mr. Dodridge, 
of Virginia, chairman of that committee, reported that it would be wrong 
to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia until Maryland and Vir- 
ginia should move on the subject, and in no event would it be safe to do 
so under present circumstances. Of the slave trade mentioned in the 
memorials, the report said nothing ; nor did it in any way explain the 
connection between slavery in the District under Federal laws, and 
slavery in the States which existed under State laws. 

The great intellectual contest between Messrs. Webster and Hayne, 
in the Senate, developed to the public view the existence of an in- 
tention on the part of leading southern members at some day to separate 
from the northern States, and to form a Southern Confederacy. In that 
debate, Mr. llayne alone referred to southern slavery as an object of 
northern hostility ; while Mr. Webster, in general terms, asserted that 
New England was attached, to the Union, to South Carolina, and to 
every State ; ajid although that discussion stands unrivalled in our poli- 
tical history for its logic, its rhetoric, its exhibition of historical research, 
its compactness of argument, still the reader rises from its perusal disap- 
pointed at finding two such intellects grappling with each other upon the 
powers of government ; yet neither apparently daring to refer to the 
primal doctrines on which that Government had been founded. 

At this time Mr. Calhoun stood the acknowledged leader among 
southern statesmen, a position to which his talents, his experience, and 
integrity of character entitled him. He was bold and sincere in the 
avowal of his opinions. _ He openly denied that men were created equal in 
their rights to life and liberty, and avoiding the doctrines of European 
and American publicists, he referred to the necessities of mankind, as the 
basis of human governments. Assuming slavery to be necessary in our 
southern States, he declared it one of the essential elements of southern 

* It is certain that when Mr. Adams first entered Congress, he was opposed to all agitation on the 
subject of the existence of slavery in the District of Columbia. Nor did he at any time encourage 
such agitation. The reason which h« assigned for his course on this point was that slavery in the 
District was of little importance ; while he admitted that its existence there was really as much a 
violation of principle as it was In the States or Territories. (The author s-raks from personal : ->a- 
versaaons.) 

7 



98 CALHOUN LEADS THE SLAVE POWEK. 

society and prosperity ; and no Senator appeared willing to form an 
issue with him on his avowed infidelity to the doctrines of our fathers : 
Indeed, at this time, General Jackson had become exceedingly popular 
with the democratic party : with them his will was law. He had been 
reared and educated in the midst of slavery, and on that subject he 
agreed with Mr. Calhoun. He had ever shown himself devoted to the 
institution ; had given the order under which the barbarous "massacre 
at Blount's Fort" had been perpetrated, in 1816, and had fought the 
exiles of Florida in the first Seminole war ; had subsequently advised 
their removal ; and had, at all times, wielded his influence for the sup- 
port and encouragement of slavery. Indeed, it may be said with pro- 
priety, that in no official act of his life did he intentionally fail to act for 
the benefit of the institution, so far as he had opportunity ; and with 
equal propriety it may be said that the democratic party never failed to 
carry out his views to the extent of their powers. 

These circumstances gave to the supporters of slavery full and almost 
undisputed control of the Government, and its patronage was bestowed 
on those who sustained the institution, while political ostracism awaited 
every opponent. Hence politicians and statesmen were unwilling to place 
themselves in opposition to this policy, and the doctrines of freedom were 
rendered unpopular with the American people. 

No public man now maintained the principles enunciated in the Decla- 
ration of Independence. No one raised his voice in support of those 
"self-evident truths" which constituted the foundation of our republican 
edifice. Mr. Adams held a seaf in the House of Representatives, but he 
had at this time only avowed his unwillingness to agitate the question of 
abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, an avowal which gave 
great satisfaction to southern men. 

, QOO , The threatened rebellion of South Carolina, which attracted so 

much attention, had its origin in slavery. Slave labor is not less 
opposed to the policy of free labor, than oppression is opposed to justice, 
and the high tariff operated favorably upon one and unfavorably upon 
the other ; but instead of avowing then' attachment to slavery as the 
cause of the proposed secession, they based their complaints upon the 
tariff, which operated in favor of free labor, while it served to depress 
slave labor. And the discussions were coufiued to collateral questions, 
without' bringing slavery into the controversy. 

The President was a man of determined purpose, and if he had been 
left to pursue his own policy, would probably have put down the spirit 
of rebellion so effectually that it would no more have been heard in our 
halls of legislation. 



UNFORTUNATE COMPROMISE. 99 

It was at this time that Mr. Clay, in the opinion of his best friends, 
committed the great error of his life, by offering his bill compromising 
the tariff on which the quarrel between the friends of free and of slave 
labor had risen. The bill was passed. Mr. Calhoun and his friends 
regarded its introduction a triumph for the South, and a tacit admission 
that southern men were correct in their opinions as to the right of seces- 
sion. The passage of the bill confirmed this opinion ; and although Mr. 
Clay at the time received much applause for saving the Union, yet the 
whole tendency of this measure was to promote its final dissolution. 

" The exiles of Florida," or negroes who had fled from South Carolina, 
and Georgia and settled in Florida, had retired far into the Peninsula, 
and were endeavoring to seclude themselves so far as possible from inter* 
course with white men ; but the spirit of oppression knows no limits. 
The Indians who were associated with the negroes were called on to 
deliver up fugitive slaves, over whom they had no control, but to whose 
ij^liience they were themselves subjected. Unable to obtain slaves in 
that way, white men of desperate character formed combinations in 
Georgia and in Florida, and, going upon the Indian reservations, indis- 
criminately captured those negroes who were free and those who belonged 
to the Indians, while the real fugitives were far beyond their reach. A 
full knowledge of these barbarous forays, or of the banditti who perpe- 
trated them, can only be obtained by a patient examination of the Con- 
gressional documents of that day.* 

This practice had continued for many years, when the Indians , lg3i 
entered into the treaty of " Paynes Landing" with the United 
States, by which they agreed to send a delegation to the western coun- 
try to examine it, and if upon their report the tribe should be satisfied 
they were to remove to that country. 

The delegation consisted of four Indians and two negroes, who, in ful- 
fillment of the treaty, went to explore the country under the direction 
and in company with commissioners appointed for that purpose. While 
there, the United States commissioners and the negro and Indian dele- 
gates entered into a supplemental treaty or compact, by which it was 
agreed that the United States should set off to the Seminole Indians and 
" their allies " a certain tract of country described by metes and bounds, 
separate and apart from the territory held by other Indians, f 

* The author spent much labor on this subject, as early as 1841, and the result of those labors may- 
yet be found In a speech delivered in the House of Representatives in February of that year ; but 
the observations of many years were condensed into a work entitled " The Exiles of Florida," pub- 
lished in 1S57. 

t All the high officers of Government appeared unwilling that the public should understand that 
the " exiles " or negroes of Florida were recognized in this treaty ; and the term " allies " wag 
resorted to in order to avoid using that of " negroes " or " colored men." 



100 ORIGIN OF THE FLORIDA WAR. 

.~x> -i In this transaction, the negroes showed themselves the ablest 

diplomatists, as it had been the avowed intention of the Admin- 
istration to constrain the Seminoles to settle with the Creeks. For this 
policy, so obstinately maintained for many years, involving the nation in 
a long and bloody war, no reason was ever assigned ; nor can we at this 
day infer but one object — that must have been the rcenslavement of tfo. 
negroes who were residing with the Seminole Indians. . 

It will be recollected, that as early as 1785, the Creeks stipulated by 
treaty to deliver these fugitives to the people of Georgia ; and the claims 
of Georgia had been pressed upon the Creeks up to the treaty of Indian 
Spring, in 1821, when they paid $250,000 for the fugitives, and thence- 
forth claimed them as their slaves. If now the Seminoles could be 
induced to re-unite with the Creeks, they would bring their negroes under 
Creek laws and thereby reenslave them. 

Of these objects the negroes had perfect knowledge, and therefore 
stipulated for their territory to be holden separate and apart from thq| 
of the Creeks. This arrangement entirely defeated the objects of the 
Administration in making the treaty. The chiefs of the Creeks learning 
these facts, earnestly protested against the Seminoles receiving separate 
territory ; and General Jackson, regarding the objects of the treaty 
defeated by the arrangement, permitted it to remain without even send- 
ing it to the Senate for ratification. 

The subject remained in this situation for more than two years. 
During that time the people of Georgia and of Florida appear 
to have become impatient at the delay of enslaving these people. The 
citizens of Alachua County, Florida, sent a petition to the President, 
saying, that the Seminole Indians were harboring fugitive slaves, and 
supplicating that high officer to remove them to the western country. 

On reading this petition, the President endorsed upon it an crder to 
the Secretary of War, directing that officer to inquire into the facts, and 
if found true, to inform the Indians that they must prepare to remove to 
the western country. The iron will of Jackson was never known to 
bend to circumstances. He now sent the treaty, so long dormant, to 
the Senate for confirmation. That body, ever obedient to his wishes, 
learning that slavery was involved, proceeded to confirm the treaty, 
without regard to the compact entered into by the commissioners of the 
United States while in the western country ; and the Indians were 
informed by the President that they must emigrate, without any regard 
to their choice, as stipulated in the treaty. 

The negroes were now constrained literally to choose between war 
and slavery. They at once prepared for war ; they turned their 
attention to collecting ammunition and arms, and securing provisions. 



OFFICIAL OBTUSENESS DADe's MASSACRE. 101 

Both Indians and negroes gave unmistakable evidence of approaching 
hostilities. 

In the meantime, Mr. Thompson, Indian Agent, informed, the War 
Department, that if the Seminole negroes emigrated west without a 
territory separate from the Creeks, they would be enslaved by that tribe. 
He also stated explicitly that this constituted their objection against 
emigration. 

The Secretary of War, General Cass, replied without assigning any 
object for compelling them to re-unite with the Creeks, but saying if they 
should be enslaved " their condition would be no worse than that* of other 
slaves: 1 To this the agent returned for answer that the same might be 
said of the Secretary of War ; "if Ac were enslaved, his condition would 
be no worse than that of other slaves." 

It is among the unpleasant duties of the historian to record facta 
which exhibit such moral turpitude in those who wield the government 
of his country ; but the men who then guided the Federal power, like 
all public men, must be held responsible for their official conduct, 
The Maroons, or fugitive slaves, felt the necessity of giving the 
Indians an exhibition of their prowess. Through the agency of one [18S *' 
of their friends in bondage, they learned that Major Dade was to leave 
Fort Brooke on a certain day for Fort King, about one hundred and thirty 
miles distant, through an unbroken forest. With a few Indians they 
hastened to intercept their passage, and the gallant major and his bat- 
talion fell by the hands of the very people whom General Jackson and 
the Executive were endeavoring to surrender up to be enslaved by the 
Creek Indians. As these persecuted people, on that bloody field, ceased 
from the work of death, they raised a shout of exultation at having 
avenged the blood of their friends, who, twenty years previously had 
been massacred at "Blount's Fort." And as that first Seminole' war 
had been commenced by a massacre of blacks, the second had now been 
inaugurated by a far less barbarous sacrifice of whites. 

The enslavers of mankind exhibit the same general traits of charac- 
ter, whether they pursue their vocation on African or American soil. 
Those deemed pirates under our laws and hanged at the yard-arm of 
some ship-of-war, for capturing and enslaving their fellow-men on the 
African coast, have never excelled in the refinements of cruelty our 
Federal Executive during the first six years of this Florida war. Under 
direction and approval of the President and Cabinet, our army captured 
and consigned to interminable slavery more than five hundred colored 
persons in Florida, at an expense to the United States of more than 
eighty thousand dollars for each individual enslaved. 

In carrying on this war upon our common humanity, parents were 



103 CHARACTER OF THE FLORIDA WAR. 

separated from their children and husbands from their wives ; frauds 
were perpetrated, solemn treaties were disregarded, flags of truce were 
violated, the most solemn covenants repudiated, and men were merci- 
lessly butchered because they preferred liberty to slavery. Yet no 
public officer appeared willing to expose these crimes, perpetrated 
as they were by the Government of which they were themselves 
members. But it is due to truth and candor to say, that in the 
whole period of his service in Congress, the author found no north- 
ern member who understood the corruptions, the barbarities of that 
war ; and as he thought, but few southern members entertained any 
just conceptions of its turpitude. 'It was the practice of that clay for 
the Executive to send to the committee on finance in each House esti- 
mates of the expense of carrying on the war during the coming year ; 
and such amounts were always appropriated without further investiga- 
tion. One of the consequences resulting from this mode of administer- 
ing the Government, was a general deterioration of public morals ; 
frauds and peculations upon the public treasury were common ; and 
members of Congress became unconscious that moral responsibility 
attached to men in official station. "While individuals in the free States 
were endeavoring to awaken the public conscience to the iniquities prac- 
tised by the administrators of Government, those in favor of slavery 
proclaimed their necessity, and insisted that they were harmless. 
183g , At the opening of the twenty-fourth Congress, General Jack- 

son, in his annual message, referred to the anti-slavery publications 
in the free States, declared they were •" calculated to stir up insurrections 
and produce all the horrors of civil war." He asserted they were opposed 
to humanity and religion, and in violation of the constitution and of 
the compromises on which the Union was founded." However absurd 
these ideas may appear, we cannot disguise the fact that the President 
was sincere in their utterance, however much that admission may detract 
from his presumed intelligence. 

He had, from the time of his first election, endeavored to reward his 
friends and punish his enemies in the distribution of the Executive 
patronage. To obtain his favor, public men reiterated his opinions and 
eulogized his statesmanship. Senators now responded to his attack upon 
the anti-slavery people of the free States. 

Mr. Morris, of Oliio, presented several petitions from that State, 
praying the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District of 
Columbia. 

Mr. Calhoun objected to their reception, declaring that Congress had 
no jurisdiction of the subject. 

Mr. Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, spoke of the philanthropists of the 



VIEWS OF BUCHANAN AND BENTON. 103 

northern States as "fanatics ;" declared it would be " morally wrong to 
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia," insisted that the " Con- 
stitution had in the clearest possible manner recognized the ri<riit of 
property in slaves," and declared he " would do nothing to disturb that 
right." He did not explain what he meant by the Constitution having 
recognized slavery ; nor did he define whether it had recognized slavery 
in any other sense than it had recognized "piracy" or "felony." But 
terms were then resorted to for the purpose of deception. And the feel- 
ing of hatred which he manifested towards those northern Christians and 
philanthropists, who were endeavoring to liberate the slaves in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia ; to " do unto them as they would have others do to 
themselves, " was wholly inexplicable, inasmuch as he himself was a mem- 
ber of a professedly Christian church, as well as of the democratic party, 
and exerted much influence with his associates both in church and 
state. 

Mr. Benton, of Missouri, was also a leading member of the same 
party— an able, earnest man, industrious in his habits and determined in 
his purposes. He was, however, distinguished for a degree of self-com- 
placency, seldom connected with great moral worth ; and in his preju- 
dices he was inexorable. He was said never to yield an opinion or for- 
give an enemy. He characterized the abolitionists as " incendiaries," 
"agitators," "men seeking to obtain their ends by diabolical means." 

This resort to declamation, to the use of epithets, and denunciation 
against the advocates of liberty, constituted the only supposed justifica- 
tion of slavery. This practice among statesmen exerted great influence 
upon the popular mind. It created a general hostility towards all who 
dared reiterate the undying truths that slaves, in common with the 
human family, have and hold from the Creator a right to life and 
liberty. 

But Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, was distinguished for his reasoning 
powers. Indeed, he was regarded as an exponent of what was then 
called "Virginia abstractions:' Unwilling to use epithets and denuncia- 
tions, he endeavored to place the subject before the country in a logical 
form, asserting — 

" Firstly. Congress has no more power to abolish slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia than the Legislatures of Virginia and Maryland, from 
which the District was taken, have to abolish it in those States. 

"Second. As slaves are property, the Legislatures of those States have 
no right to abolish the master's title by which he holds them. There- 
fore, Congress can have no authority to abolish slavery in the District 
of Columbia." 



104: STATESMEN OELIVIOlfS TO PRIMAL TEUTHS. 

The debate occupied the Senate during the morning hour for more 
than two months, and no Senator from the free States, during that pro- 
tracted discussion, asserted or reiterated the truth that " men hold their 
right to life and liberty from, the Creator." No one denied the legitimate 
power of human governments to enslave and murder innocent persons. 
No Senator denied the legitimate powers of Congress to authorize one 
class of men to hold, flog, abuse, and murder another portion of the 
human family. No one denied that the will of Congress and the Presi- 
dent expressed in the form of a statute would impose upon innocent 
persons a moral obligation to submit to be held, flogged, enslaved, and 
murdered. The elementary principles of government, as taught by phi- 
losophers, by publicists, by jurists, in both Europe and America, seemed 
to be forgotten. *But on taking the vote, a large majority was found to 
be in favor of receiving the petitions. 

The political partisans of the House of Representatives were not 
behind those of the Senate in their efforts to attach opprobrium to all 
who insisted that justice was equally due to all men. They spoke with 
gieat contempt of those who believed that all men were equally entitled 
to live, to protect and cherish life. These efforts in Congress having 
been constant and long continued, necessarily affected the popular mind 
of the North as well as of the South. Men were educated to believe that 
slavery was just and proper ; that Congress and the Federal Government 
were bound by the Constitution to support it, and they now looked upon 
all who denied these propositions as uninformed, ignorant, and bigoted. 
The popular mind was directed to the theory that slavery had been in- 
stituted by Deity, and was to be sustained and cherished as an institution 
of heaven, and those who opposed it were characterized as "fanatics" 
and " infidels." The advocates of oppression admitted that many evils 
were attendant on slavery, and that God would do it away in His own 
good time ; but they proclaimed — " He will smite those who put forth 
their hand to steady this ark of His Providence." 
18g6 , In the House of Representatives memorials were also presented, 

praying the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. Yet no member of that body advocated the proposed 
measure. The highest ground assumed by any one was that the petitions 
should be received and respectfully referred to the appropriate com- 
mittees. 

Southern members insisted that they should be rejected without 
debate ; that they should not even be read ; but treated with that 
detestation which was due to men who would endanger the Union by 
sending such memorials to Congress. 



me. pinckxey's gag-resolutions. 105 

The subject was referred to a select committee, of which Mr. Pinck- 
ney, of South Carolina, was chairman. He reported three resolutions, 
the first of which asserted that Congress possessed no constitutional 
power to interfere with slavery in the States. 

The second declared it would be wrong to interfere with slavery in the 
District of Columbia. 

The third declared that all petitions and papers relating to slavery 
should be laid on the table without debate. 

The committee had beeu selected by a democratic Speaker. A major- 
ity of members belonged to that party, and looked upon this movement 
as calculated to give eclat to that organization. They were unwilling to 
be surpassed in their support of slavery. Southern Whigs objected to 
this report as too tame. Mr. Wise, of Virginia, led %fi in behalf of 
Whig slaveholders. He was comparatively a young member. To say 
he was impulsive, would do injustice to that unpremeditated vehemence 
which characterized his action in Congress. He possessed a rich imagi- 
nation, which seemed to lead him captive without the ordinary restrain- 
ing influences of judgment. He sought to raise himself to distinction, 
not by his own moral excellence, but by the exposure of the errors which 
his opponents cherished. 

He denounced the resolutions as tame, inefficient, and of no possible 
utility ; said they tacitly admitted that Congress had the power to 
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, which he solemnly and 
peremptorily denied. 

The resolutions, however, were adopted ; and the right of petition 
was suppressed in the House of Representatives for that time. 

Mr. Calhoun now attempted to carry that despotism which always 
attends slavery one -step farther. He reported from a select committee 
appointed for that purpose, a bdl declaring " it unlawful for any deputy- 
postmaster to put into the mail any pamphlet, newspaper, handbill, or 
pictorial representation, directed to any person resident of a slave State 
where, by the laws of such State, the circulation of such pamphlets or 
newspapers were prohibited by law," and also prohibiting the deputy- 
postmaster in such slave States from distributing such pamphlet, news- 
paper, &c, unless authorized by law of such State. 

The report was received with unusual solemnity, as the attention of 
the President, both Houses of Congress, the democratic party, and the 
southern portion of the whig party, were committed to the policy of 
suppressing all discussion of slavery. 

But an insuperable difficulty now intervened to thwart this purpose. 
Mr. Calhoun had insisted upon the right of a State to secede from the 



106 DOCTRINE OF STATE EIGHTS. 

Union whenever her people should feel it for their interest. General 
Jackson denied this doctrine, and was sustained by the democratic 
party. 

Mr. Calhoun still felt constrained to assert the sovereignty of the 
States ; and therefore, in framing the bill, made the legislation of Con- 
gress dependent on State action, as the provisions of the bill only 
applied to those States which should prohibit the circulation of incendiary 
pamphlets, newspapers, &c, while the followers of the President insisted 
that the United States had full power to prohibit the circulation of such 
pamphlets, &c, without any assistance or consent of the State governments; 
and neither party yielding its position, the bill was lost. 

These developments in favor of the right of a State to nullify an 
act of Congress, led the older and more experienced statesmen to under- 
stand very satisfactorily the ulterior designs of Mr. Calhoun and his 
friends. 

So far as we are informed, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Webster, and 
the leading statesmen of both parties of that day, north and 
south, believed, that the antagonisms of liberty and slavery, justice and 
injustice, virtue and crime, right and wrong, might be reconciled, sup- 
ported and cherished by the same government, at the Same time, and by 
the same enactments. All the leading men of both whig and democratic 
parties emulated eacli other in efforts to make the people believe this 
theory. They all united in asserting that those who founded the govern- 
ment, intended to maintain these moral, political, and religious antago- 
nisms. If any public men were at that time conscious that our Federal 
Government had been constituted entirely for the support of freedom, 
leaving slavery entirely with the States, they lacked the moral courage 
necessary to avow such doctrine. 

Mr. Calhoun, the leading statesman and master-spirit of the slave 
power, appears to have taken as the basis of his theory, the doctrine 
that slavery is right. Commencing with this predicate, he was con- 
strained to discard the theories of European and American writers, and 
to find a basis for human governments, not in the will of the Creator, 
nor in the natural laws, nor in the rights of human nature, nor in the 
attributes of Deity, but in the conflicting interests of mankind, which must 
be restrained and regulated in order to maintain society. 

From this theory all who adhered to the doctrines of the Declaration 
of Independence must, of necessity, have dissented. The two parties, 
taking their departure from different and conflicting predicates, could 
not unite either in theory or in practice. They did not unite after 1793, 
the period at which the Federal Government first became involved in the 



CONSTITUTION OF ARKANSAS. 107 

support of slavery, which never constituted a legitimate subject for con- 
gressional legislation. From that clay there was no union in our national 
councils ; no union between the slave and free States. There never 
was and never can be either moral or political union between the sup- 
porters of freedom, and those who maintain slavery. Hence the constant 
and unceasing disseutions in Congress. 

It had become evident to southern statesmen that freedom of debate 
and the right of petition must be put down, or slavery must fall before 
the tide of civilization. Mr. Calhoun's contemplated law prohibiting the 
circulation of certain newspapers, pamphlets, and periodicals through 
the mail had failed, because he admitted that Congress could only pro- 
hibit such papers, pamphlets, and periodicals as the laws of the States au- 
thorized. But the popular feeling in the slave States now executed the 
contemplated law by mob violence. Postmasters in southern villages 
were told what papers they might, and such as they might not distribute. 
The Legislatures of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, and Geor- 
gia adopted resolutions calling on the Legislatures of the free States to 
prohibit the sending of incendiary documents into the slave States. 

Maine was the only free State that responded to this appeal. Her 
Legislature expressed great sympathy with the slave States ; but boast- 
fully asserted that it were unnecessary to pass laws restraining her peo- 
ple, as there were no abolitionists among them. Senator Ruggles pre- 
sented these resolutions to the Senate, declaring they had been adopted 
by a unanimous vote of the Legislature of that sovereign State. • 

The people of Arkansas had formed a constitution prohibiting her 
Legislature from passing any law for the emancipation of slaves ; and 
having also formed a State government, now asked admission to the 
Union. Memorials from other States were also presented, asking Con- 
gress not to admit Arkansas until this article should be stricken from 
her constitution. The memorials were all referred ; but the committee 
reported in favor of admitting her as a State, notwithstanding the objec- 
tionable feature in her constitution. The report was agreed to, and the 
State admitted. 

Mr. Adams, notwithstanding the adoption of the resolutions offered 
by Mr. Pinckney, continued faithfully to present petitions intrusted to 
his care, with all the formality which had been observed in the earlier 
and better days of the Republic. This excited great indignation among 
southern members; but his great ability, his consummate knowledge of all 
the machinery of government, and his perfect familiarity with softthern 
character, enabled him to maintain his position. He was the "Mar- 
plot " of the slave power. While southern members feared his consum- 



108 FIRST OFFENCE OF MR. ADAMS. 

mate tact and acknowledged ability, they felt the necessity of paralyzing 
his influence. 

im On the 3d February, Mr. Adams being in possession of the 

floor, and having preseuted several petitions, addressing the 
Speaker said, he held the petition of twenty-two persons, calling them- 
selves "slaves," and he desired to understand whether the Speaker 
regarded such petitions as coming under the rule by which other petitions 
touching slavery were laid upon the table ? 

The Speaker very properly answered, that he could not determine that 
question until he should peruse the petition. 

Mr. Adams replied, that if he sent the petition to the Clerk's table, it 
would be in possession of the House ; if he sent it to the Speaker, that 
officer will see its contents. " The petition," said he, "purports to come 
from slaves, and is one of those which has occurred to my mind as not 
being what it purports," and he closed by saying he " would send it to 
the Chair:'' 

Mr. Lawler, of Alabama, objected to its going to the Chair, and 
desired that his objections might be entered on the journal. 

The Speaker declared the case so extraordinary that he would take 
the sense of the House upon it. He believed it the first instance in the 
Government where persons not free, had presented petitions to that 
body. 

The members now understood that 'Mr. Adams had presented, or 
attempted to present, a petition from slaves ; and they at once became 
excited, without waiting to inquire as to facts. 

Mr. Haynes, of Georgia, rose to express his profouud astonishment 
that any member should presume to present such a petition. 

Mr. Lewis, of Alabama, thought the House should severely punish 
the infraction of its rules ; and called on members from the slave States 
to come forward and demand punishment of the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts. 

Mr. Alford, of Georgia, hoped the petition would be committed to the 
flames. There must be an end to these attempts to raise excitements, or 
the Union must come to an end. 

Mr. Thompson, of South Carolina, next presented a resolution, declar- 
ing that in presenting a petition purporting to come from slaves, Mr. 
Adams had grossly- violated the dignity of the House, and should be 
brought to the bar to receive the severe censure of the Speaker. 

Mt'. Thompson was a Whig, and evidently desirous of maintaining the 
character of that party for its devotion to slavery. He proceeded to 
say there was such an institution in the District "of Columbia as a grand 



a 

S 



MEMBEES BECOME EXCITKD. 109 

jury, and intimated very distinctly that if the gentleman from Massachu- 
setts should persist in his present course, he would be indicted for stirrin. 
up insurrection. 

Mr. Granger, of New York, was the first member to speak from the 
free States. He was a man of education and wealth, exerting an influ- 
ence in the House of Representatives as well as in his State ; but more 
distinguished for his readiness of debate than for his industry or states- 
manship. He declared that he had been a friend to Mr. Adams ; but 
now greatly surprised at that gentleman's course. He further stated 
his opposition to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia while 
Maryland maintained the institution. By this time southern members 
became excited, and with knitted brows, seemed impatient to wreak 
their vengeance on Mr. Adams. 

Mr. Lewis now presented a resolution as a substitute for that offered 
by Mr. Thompson, declaring " that in attempting to introduce a petition 
coining from slaves, ■praying the abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia, Mr. Adams had committed an outrage upon the rights and 
feelings of the people of the Union, had iuvited the slave population of 
the South to insurrection." 

While these proceedings were in progress, the distinguished object of 
this unusual outpouring of indignation, remained quietly in his seat, 
smiling at the ludicrous exhibition before him. But that indignation was 
greatly intensified when he rose and coolly suggested to the gentleman 
from Alabama (Mr. Lewis) the propriety of amending his resolution in 
that part which alleged that the petition prayed for the abolition of 
slavery in the District of Columbia. " It prays," said he, " for no such 
thing. The gentleman will find that it prays that slavery may not be 
abolished in this District. These slaves are the gentleman's auxiliaries, 
instead of his opponents." 

Mr. Mann, of New York, addressed the House. He was somewhat 
distinguished as a lawyer, possessing a high order of talent, as well as 
great integrity of purpose. His exordium was literally prophetic. 
"The future historian," said he, "when arriving at the twenty-fourth 
Congress, will find it requisite to pause and contemplate the spectacle 
now before the American people." He next deprecated the course of 
M :•. Adams, and, repeating the arguments used by southern slaveholders, 
he declared the only question before the House was this : " Will north- 
ern men live up to their contract 1 As for me and my household, my 
constituents and friends, I say, without reservation, we will." * 

r 1 -■■ ;nty years subsequently, Mr. Mann was a member of the Republican Convention which me*i 
At Pittaburg, Pennsylvania, where the author, also a member, found him an ardent and devoted etip 



110 PROPOSITIONS TO CENSURE MR. ADAMS. 

Some friends of Mr. Adams had gone to his seat and read the 
petition, and learning its real character, with less solemnity than south- 
ern members thought becoming the occasion, intimated that the petition 
was of a totally different character from that which seemed to be 
attributed to it. 

At this suggestion, Mr. Thompson appears to have been deeply 
moved. He said he was " sorry to witness the levity which was 
attempted to be thrown over the subject. Is it a mere trifle to hoax ' 
members from the South ? (said he) to irritate almost to madness the 
entire delegation from the slave States ?" To this Mr. Adams, remain- 
ing in his seat, replied : " I hope I may not be held responsible for all 
the follies of southern members." 

Mr. Thompson then amended his resolution, dividing it into three 
separate propositions, declaring — 

1st. That the Hon. John Quincy Adams, by an effort to present a 
petition from slaves, has committed a contempt of this House. 

2d. That by creating the impression that said petition was for the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, he has trifled with the 
House. 

3d. That he be censured by the House for his conduct. 

Mr. Pickens, of South "Carolina, addressed the House in favor of the 
resolutions of Mr. Thompson. He was a man of intellect, a follower of 
Mr. Calhoun. Although vehement and unpleasant in his manner of 
speaking, he was listened to with great respect, and was among the 
leading men of his State. He declared that the great error lay in the 
resolution prohibiting the reading or reference of anti-slavery petitions, 
which should have excluded them from presentation, yet the House was 
bound to protect its own dignity. 

Mr. Cambrelling, of New York, was more cautious. He was a quiet, 
shrewd man, always* retaining his dignity of deportment, never speaking 
on any subject which he did not understand. He told the House dis- 
tinctly that the petition was itself a hoax, which was probably better 
understood by the gentleman from Massachusetts thau by his assailants. 

Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, near the close of the second day spent 
on this subject, declared that his venerable colleague had neither in word 
nor deed offended against parliamentary law or the rules of the House. ■ 
He said he would not say one word in relation to the resolution, but he 
would appeal to southern men "to define their position?" To say in 

porter of the doctrines which he so strongly deprecated in 1837. His mental energies could not be 
restrained by political considerations from maintaining the right, nor his conscience paralyzed by 
slaveholding influence. His last days were literally his best days. 



HE VINDICATES HIMSELF. Ill 

definite language whether they intended to punish members for enter- 
taining opinions different from their owu ? He wished " to understand 
whether members were to be expelled for presenting petitions even from 
slaves." 

But slavcholding members had become excited, and were not in a 
condition to listen to either facts or arguments. They continued to 
assail Mr. Adams with great bitterness. 

For three days the storm raged. During that time, the distinguished 
object of this persecution remained in his seat, calmly listening to the 
assaults made upon him as though he were one of the most disinterested 
members of the body. He took no notes of what was said or done, 
apparently feeling no anxiety on the subject. But when the furor began 
to subside, he rose to address the House. His age, his experience and 
high position commanded attention. He was cool and collected. He 
made no excuses, nor did he apologize for his course of action. He 
declared that from the first it was his intention to raise the question 
whether slaves may petition the House. The Constitution had declared 
that " the right of petition should never be abridged." 

The right is from nature, and is common to the race of mankind. 
Every individual may supplicate those around him, his superiors, or may 
.ask the proudest monarch that treads the earth for justice. Indeed, he 
may send up his petitions to the Creator of worlds, to the common Father 
of us ail for mercy. This (said he) is the right which the Constitution 
says "shall not be abridged." "We cannot exclude the petition of the 
meanest slave, without violating the Constitution. He spoke with appa- 
rent feeling, and a solemnity pervaded the minds of all. 

Having obtained control of the feelings of his audience, he turned 
upon his persecutors, spoke of the spirit manifested by them, of the 
epithets which they had used ; then he became facetious, ridiculed the 
impetuous desire to punish him before they knew whereof they accused 
him, convulsed the House with laughter at the literature of leading men 
who sought his overthrow; and then exposed the stupidity of Mr. Thomp- 
son, who had threatened him with an indictment by the grand jury of the 
District of Columbia ; and held up to contempt the statesman who per- 
formed his official duties uuder fear of a grand jury; and closed by 
saying he had nothing to retract ; he took back no word he had 
uttered ; but assured the House he would do the same thing again, 
should occasion offer. 

This defiance of the slave power was unexpected. The oldest members 
of the body had never witnessed such boldness, such heroism, on the 
part of any northern member. Slaveholders and those acting with them 



112 OKIGIN OF TEXAS ANNEXATION. 

were evidently disappointed and humbled. They now began to realize 
that there was a power behind and above that of Congress and of party; 
they feared the indignation of the people, and rejected the resolutions by 
an overwhelming majority. 

Mr. Adams was now vindicated. He had maintained his doctrines, 
and the people of the free States were loud in his praise. 

But our Government was not satisfied with sustaining slavery within 
our own borders. The government of Mexico had decreed the abolition 
of slavery in all its intendeueies. Texas would not submit to this decree. 
She rose in rebellion rather than submit to this advance of civilization. 
The Executive sympathized with the Texans : our army, at that time 
stationed upon our southwestern frontier, entered Texas with the 
apparent design of assisting her troops against the Mexican army ; while 
a host of adventurers from our slave States hastened to Texas with arms 
in their hands, professing to emigrate for the purpose of settling upon the 
rich lands of that State. 

The Mexican minister remonstrated. The Secretary of War replied 
that " our army was sent to Texas in order to defend our own frontier 
against the Indians. 11 The minister demanded his passport, and left 
the United States. This was the commencement of that intrigue 
by which Texas was eventually brought into the Union as a slave 
State, in order to extend the influence of slavery and perpetuate its 
existence. 

But while the spirit of oppression had succeeded in diverting our 
Government from the support of freedom, and had prostituted its powers 
to the encouragement and support of slavery, the cause of truth and 
justice was slowly operating upon the statesmen of other nations. 
Britain had emancipated her bondmen of the West Indies ; and those 
beautiful islands became the homes of freemen ; and the influence of 
advancing freedom was felt by the people of our slave States, and soon 
presented questions for international correspondence between the British 
and American Governments. 

Several slave ships from our northern slaveholding States were 
wrecked upon British islands, while making their way around the penin- 
sula of Florida, and the slaves landed on British soil became free, and 
when under the protection of British laws, they refused to return to 
bondage. 

Mr. Calhoun brought the subject before the Senate, by presenting 
certain propositions which he deemed declarative of "international 
law." The first of which was, that an American ship, sailing from one 
American port to another, was not liable to search. The second 



ME. CALHOUN ON THE LAW OF NATIONS. 113 

declared that a ship driven by stress of weather into a friendly port, 
carries with her the rights and privileges which she enjoyed while on the 
high seas. 

The object of these resolutions was to change that principle in the 
law of nations which recognizes the sovereignty and laws of every govern- 
ment over its territory, harbors and waters, within a marine league of 
the shore. 

Xor should we at this day smile derisively at this attempt on the part 
of the Senate of the United States by resolution to change the law of 
nations, which is nothing more and nothing less than the dictates of that 
immutable justice which is supposed to be the outbreathing of the Divine 
will. The slaveholding influence had led our own Government to depart 
from and disregard that will of the Creator ; and ambitious slaveholders 
believed that other governments might be subjected to the same influ- 
ences. The resolutions were adopted, and the President called on for 
the correspondence between our Government and that of England on the 
subject of slaves wrecked on British islands. The President transmitted 
to the Senate copies of the correspondence, from which it appeared that 
British Ministers refused to accede to the dogma that slaves were property. 
British officers and Government regarded human beings as persons, in- 
capable of being transformed into property, and they refused to com- 
pensate those dealers in human flesh. 

This position of the British Ministers was the more alarming and 
dangerous to the slave interest, because it was in exact accordance with 
the decision of our House of Representatives, made in the case of 
" D'Autrieve," nine years previously, and on the motion to refer the sub- 
ject, Mr. Calhoun took occasion to state that two ships, the "Comet" 
aud the "Encomium," had been wrecked on British islands, and their 
slaves set free under British laws. He then declared that British 
ministers had adopted one principle which it was scarcely credible that 
so intelligent a government could assume. He referred to the principle 
that " there could not be property in persons ;" such doctrine, he declared 
insulting to our Government, and would strike at the independence of 
our country. He then attempted to maintain the right of one man to 
the body and services of another, by charging Great Britain with 
hypocrisy. The principle (said he) which would abrogate the property 
of one man in the body of another, would abrogate the right of one 
nation to govern another. If man by nature has the right to self- 
government, have not nations an equal right ? 

8 



114 mr. calhoun's object. 

But Mr. Calhoun's object appears to have been merely to call public 
attention to the subject, and to place his own views and those of the 
Senate before our people and the British Ministry. There were no fur- 
ther proceedings had on the subject at that time ; but as it afterwards 
came up on different occasions, we shall notice the proceedings in their 
regular order. 



THE TWENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 115 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE GAG-RULES INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED EFFORT TO CHANGE THE CHAR- 
ACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTS TO CHARGE THE ANTI-SLAVERY 

MEN WITH EFFORTS TO VIOLATE THE CONSTITUTION. 

Mr. Van Buren was inaugurated President of the United ri83r 
States on the 4th March. He had received a liberal education, 
had distinguished himself as a lawyer, had served his country as Senator, 
foreign minister, and Vice-President. He was an admirer of General 
Jackson, and a devoted member of the democratic party. In his 
inaugural he made allusions to slavery and the obligations of the Govern- 
ment to maintain and uphold it ; but his language was so vague that 
no distinct issue could be taken upon it by his opponents while it was 
unobjectionable to his friends. 

Such were the financial difficulties under which the Government then 
labored, that he found it necessary to convene Congress in extra session 
on the 4th September. In his message he made no distinct reference to 
slavery, and the attention of that body was exclusively directed to the 
subject which called its members together. 

The regular session of the twenty-fifth Congress commenced on the 
4th December ; but the President in his annual message made no direct 
allusion to slavery or the slave trade. The subject, however, was soon 
introduced by petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia. A long debate arose in the Senate in regard to the best 
mode of quieting the popular mind, and soothing the disquietude in the 
free States. But no proposition to modify or eradicate the evil was 
brought before Congress. It was admitted by all, that hostility to 
slavery and the slave trade was increasing and strengthening ; yet no 
member either from the North or South intimated that the Senate must 
eventually yield to the popular feeling ; must do justice, and sustain 
liberty ; on the contrary, every member appeared anxious to devise 
some means to satisfy the people without removing the cause of com- 
plaint. 

In the House of Representatives Mr. Adams had been regarded as 
the ablest and most devoted advocate of the right of petition; but he 
went no farther. On two occasions he had expressed a desire that 



116 ABOLITION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

all debate on the subject of slavery in the District of Columbia might be 

avoided. 

But another member now stood forth as an undisguised advocate for the 
abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia. Hon- 
Wm. Slade, of Vermont, born and educated in that State, had served in 
the twenty-fourth Congress, he had quietly noticed the assumptions and 
arrogance with which that body was led to the support of an institution 
which he detested. He presented resolutions from the Legislature of 
Vermont and memorials from many citizens of that State for the abolL 
tion of the slave trade at our national metropolis, and appears to have 
determined on ascertaining the feelings of the House in regard to that 
commerce which had long disgraced our nation. He therefore pro- 
posed to refer the memorials to a select committee, with instructions 
to report a bill for its total abolition in the District of Columbia. On 
presenting his motion he made a few remarks, saying that petitions 
on all other subjects were respectfully received and reported upon. 
If he were to present a petition in regard to property to the amount 
of twenty dollars it would be referred and a report in answer to it 
would be made, while petitions involving the liberties of thousands of 
native-born inhabitants were sent to the silent tomb with the certainty 
of clock-work. Mr. Legare, of South Caroliua, solemnly entreated Mr. 
Slade to reflect on the consequences of his course. That gentleman 
continued his remarks at some length. Mr. Wise, of Virginia, called 
on members from that State to retire from the hall. 

Mr. Halsey, of Georgia, invoked members from his State to follow 
the example of Mr. Wise. Mr. Garland joined in this request, and 
Mr. Rhett, of South Carolina, said the members from his State had 
already left the hall. 

Mr. Slade retained the floor, but Mr. Rhett rose to a point of order. 
The Speaker declared that he had done all he could to prevent the gen- 
tleman from Vermont from debating the subject, and said if it were possi- 
ble he would allay the excitement. 

Mr. Turney, of Tennessee, said, " I rise to a question of order." 
Mr. Slade. " I ask leave to read a paper." 
Mr. Garland. " I object to the reading." 
The Speaker. " The gentleman will take his seat."* 
Mr. McKay, of North Carolina. " Has not the gentleman been de- 
clared out of order ?" 

* Mr. Benton, In his "Thirty Years," while describing this scene, says: "John White, of Ken- 
tucky, was Speaker." But that gentleman was not elected Speaker until December, 1841, while 
tins scene occurred in 1833. Mr. Polk, of Tennessee, was Speaker from 1836 to 1841. 



/ 



SOUTHERN MEMBERS SECEDE. 117 

The Speaker. " He has." 

Mr. McKay. " Then has he the right to proceed ?" 

The Speaker. " I was about to propound that question to the House." 

Mr. Slade. " I propose to read a paper." 

Mr. Turney. " I object." 

The Speaker declared Mr. Slade out of order, and while that gentle- 
man was endeavoring to vindicate his strict observance of order, Mr. 
Rencher, of North Carolina, moved an adjournment. Mr. Allen, of 
Wrmont, called for the ayes and noes on this motion ; but it prevailed, 
1G6 to 63.* 

During these proceedings most members from Virginia, South Caro- 
lina, and Georgia had left the hall. This was the first secession on the 
fart of southern members of Congress. But when the motion to adjourn 
was made it was found impossible to carry it unless the recusant mem- 
bers returned to their seats, inasmuch as Mr. Adams and his friends 
opposed the motion. Soon as the Speaker anuounced the House ad- 
journed, Mr. Campbell, of South Carolina, in a loud voice, stated that 
the " southern delegates were requested to meet immediately in the room 
of the Committee on the District of Columbia." They did so, and hav- 
ing assembled by themselves, began to reflect upon their future course. 
To leave the city because a northern member dared utter his honest con- 
victions in parliamentary language, appeared unwise. Their object had 
been undoubtedly to frighten northern members. That expectation had 
failed, and it appeared necessary to devise some means to avoid the ridi- 
cule which seemed likely to be thrown upon their action. They finally 
adopted a resolution, which they agreed should be passed by the House 
as the only condition on which they would return to their duties. It was 
expressed in the following language : 

11 Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, and papers touching the 
abolition of slavery, or the buying, selling, or transferring slaves in any 
State, or district, or territory of the United States, be laid on the table 
without being debated, printed, read, or referred, and that no action be 
taken thereon." 

Mr. Patten, of Virginia, one of the recusants, was directed to pre- 
sent it to the House, and every seceding member was enjoined to be in 
his seat to vote for it. 

* Mr. Benton, in his " Thirty Years," declares " this opposition to the adjournment one of the 
worst features of that unhappy day's work." The writer deems it one of the most fortunate fea- 
tures of the day's work. Most southern members had left the hall, and Mr. Adams and his friends 
determined to proceed in the business before the House as though nothing unusual had happened, 
and they would have done so had not the seceding members returned to their seats and voted for 
the adjournment. 



118 THEY RETURN TO THE UNION. 

Accordingly, on the following day the members appeared in their 
seats as usual. Mr. Patten introduced his resolution, and with great 
solemnity spoke of the return of southern members as a concession, declar- 
ing they would do what they could to save the Union, provided this reso- 
lution were adopted. He then moved the previous question. . 

This slaveholding cabal thus publicly, with an effrontery unrivalled, 
declared their return to the Union should depend upon the unmistak- 
able violation of the Constitution, by abridging the right of petition, 
and suppressing the freedom of debate. But the proposition was made 
to the democratic party who then held control of both Houses of Con- 
gress ; indeed every recusant was a Democrat, and nearly the entire 
party now voted for the resolution dictated to them by slaveholding 
insolence as the price of the Union. 

Southern members of both political parties voted for the resolution, 
assisted by the following members, to wit : 

From Maine, Messrs. Anderson, Fairfield, and Robertson, . . 3 

From Connecticut, Messrs. Phelps and Holt, 2 

From New Hampshire, Messrs Atherton, Farrington, Weeks 
and Williams, 4 

From New York, Messrs. Moore, Kemble* Titus, Brodhead, 
McClellan, Vail, Palmer, Spencer, Edwards, Loomis, Prentiss, 
Parker, Noble, Birdsal, Andrews, 15 

From Pennsylvania, Messrs. Fry, Wagner, Hubly, Risly, Logan, 
McClure, Hammond, Moms, Kliugingsmith, Buchanan, Beaty, 1 1 

From Indiana, Mr. Boon, 1 

From Illinois, Messrs. Casey and Snider 2 

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey, and Michigan 
gave no vote for the repudiation of the Constitution. t 

When the name of John Quincy Adams was called, the heroic old 
statesman rose in his place, and with great solemnity of manner and Ian. 
guage pronounced the resolution " a violation of the Constitution ;" but 
his voice was then drowned amid the calls to order by slaveholders and 
their servile " allies," and he proceeded no further with his remarks. But 
the resolution was adopted by a vote of 122 ayes to 14 noes ; the Whigs 
of the free States voting against its adoption.* 

Another clause in the Federal Constitution was thus practically erased 

* Hon. E. Barnwell Rhett, of South Carolina, in a published letter to his constituents termed 
this leaving the hall " a memorable secession of southern members" and stated that he had pre- 
pared two amendments to Mr. Slade's proposition; 1st, declaring it expedient that the Union 
should be dissolved. 2d, appointing a committee to report upon the best means for peaceably 
dissolving it." 

Mr. Benton, in his " Abridgment of Congressional Debates," by way of note, on page 565, of tho 



Mr. calhoun's resolutions. 119 

from the great charter of American freedom ; like the other repudiated 
portions, it was surrendered at the dictation of the slave power by north- 
ern representatives under pretence of "saving the Union." 

But the term " Union," no longer had reference to that " moral 
entity," that " union of purpose," " union of rights," and " union of 
hearts " which constituted the Government instituted by the patriots of 
1776. The term was now understood to have reference to the as- 
sociation of States, whose people never united with the advocates 
of liberty, nor adopted the principles of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. 

The right of petition and the freedom of debate appeared to be now 
fully suppressed, and despotism inexorable and unmitigated ruled the 
House of Representatives. 

Manifestations of dissatisfaction among the people were now too nu- 
merous to be disregarded. To debate the subject of slavery in the then 
enlightened state of the public mind, would endanger the existence of 
the institution. To refuse attention to the popular voice, would be insult- 
ing to the people. It was under these circumstances that Mr. Calhoun 
attempted to set bounds to the waves which agitated the sea of public 
thought, by a series qf resolutions which he presented to the Senate for 
adoption, in the following language : 

1. Resolved, That each State entered into the Union for the purpose 
of securing to itself all natural, social and political advantages. 

2. That each State retains its entire power over its domestic institu- 
tions. 

3. The Federal Government is the common agent of all the States 
so far as practicable, to protect and support their institutions. 

4. Domestic slavery is an institution of the southern States. 

5. That the intermeddling of any State or States, or their citizens, 
with slavery in the District of Columbia, or in the Territories of the 
United States on the ground that it is immoral or sinful, would be a 
direct and dangerous attack upon the institutions of all the slave 
States.* 

The use of the word advantages at the close of the first resolution 
instead of rights, constituted but a characteristic of the whole series. 

18th volume, says, this was « the most disturbing movement on the subject of slavery ever made 
In Congress." In his "Thirty Years" he says, "It was the most angry debate which had then 
occurred." 

* Senator Benton, in his "Thirty Years," declares that during the debate on these resolutions, it 
did not occur to him that Mr. Calhoun, as a member of Mr. Monroe's Cabinet, had approved the 
exclus.on of slavery from the territory north of 36 deg. 30 min. north latitude, and signed a paper 
stating this approval 



120 THEIR ILLOGICAL CHARACTER. 

For the intelligent reader cannot fail to perceive the gross error and 
illogical character of the assertion, " that the intermeddling of any State 
or States, or their citizens, with slavery in the District of Columbia, or 
in the Territories of the United States, on the ground that it is humoral 
or sinful, would constitute a direct and dangerous attack upon the insti- 
tutions of the slave States." 

183T1 The resolutions were doubtless an expression of the honest 

views of Mr. Calhoun. They evidently originated in that sphere 
of thought in which his mind revolved. His entire theory of govern- 
ment differed from that on which the founders of our institutions rested. 
Hence the 1st, 3d, and 5th resolutions were in unmistakable conflict with 
the Federal Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The 
statesmen who formed the Union declared its purpose was to secure all per- 
sons in the enjoyment of " life, liberty and happiness." The first of these 
resolutions declares it was to secure the several States in the enjoyment 
of their social and political advantages. The third resolution declares 
the Federal Government to be the agent of all the States so far as prac- 
ticable, to protect and support their institutions. This contained the 
gist of the slaveholding theory. The purpose was to make the Federal 
Government the supporter of slavery — the instrument fur overthrow- 
ing the essential principles of liberty— its adoption constituted an im- 
portant step in the transformation of the Government to a slaveholding 
oligarchy. But the fifth resolution was evidently aimed at Christianity 

itself. 

The numerous petitions and memorials against slavery and the slave 
trade in the District of Columbia, in the Territories, and on the high 
seas, were based upon the principle that oppression of our fellow-men, 
and the sale and transfer of human beings were revolting to the civil- 
ization of the age, were barbarous, were violations of justice, transgres- 
sions of the laws of nature, and of nature's God, offensive both to 
God and all good men. But the resolution tacitly admitting the con- 
stitutional right of the memorialists to ask for their abolition, denied 
the right to ask it on account of its being immoral or sinful. Thus deny- 
ing the right of governments to act upon the clearly revealed will of the 
Creator. 

The discussion of these resolutions was somewhat protracted, and 
Senators deemed their adoption so important that each wrote out his 
own remarks upon them in order that his views might not be subse- 
quently misunderstood. 

But we rise from the examination of that debate with feelings of mor- 
tification and disappointment, at finding no Senator from the North or 



MR. STEVENSON S CHALLENGE OF O CONNELL. 121 

the South willing to vindicate the founders of our institutions in estab- 
lishing a free government. No one appeared willing to deny the propo- 
sitions of Mr. Calhoun.* 

In all ages of the world men high in office have imagined themselves 
clothed with powers and influence which they did not possess. Mr. 
Calhoun and the Senators who were acting with him unquestionably sup- 
posed they were laying down doctrines and enunciating principles to 
govern Congress in all coming tiine.f 

In the course of the debate objections were made to the resolutions on 
account of their direct reference to religious opinions ; but Mr. Calhoun 
replied : " The abolitionists assail slavery because it is wicked and sinful, 
aud I wish to meet them distinctly on that point." 

Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, proposed to discard the words " im- 
moral and sinful," but Mr. Calhoun was inexorable. He declared that 
religious fanaticism had sent thousands of victims to the stake, and abo- 
lition (said he) " is nothing else than religious fanaticism." 

The resolutions were adopted by a vote of 35 to 9. 

The members of the twenty-fifth Congress convened for their ri „ 
second session on the 3d December : and on the following day Mr. 
Adams presented a resolution and preamble reciting that our minister at 
the court of St. James had brought disgrace upon our nation by challeng- 
ing Daniel O'Connell, a member of the British House of Commons, to 
mortal combat, for having said in a public speech, that " the American 
Government was represented at the English court by a man who reared 
men and women for market." 

O'Connell was a distinguished orator and philanthropist, and did not 
hesitate to speak truth boldly and frankly : Holding slavery in great 
abhorrence, he referred to Mr. Stevenson, our minister at London, in a 
public speech in terms more truthful than respectful. Mr. Stevenson, 
feeling the pungency of the remarks, sent him the challenge referred to ; 
and Mr. Adams determined to expose the transaction. But the intro- 
duction of this resolution aroused the ire of slaveholders, and it wa^s laid 

* Mr. Benton was one of the strongest opponents of Mr. Calhoun's doctrines in regard to seces- 
sion ; but he agreed with that Senator in regard to memorials concerning slavery and the slavo 
trade, and in his " Thirty Years," says the petitioners "did not live in any State, Territory, or dis- 
trict subject to slavery. They felt none of the evils of which they complained, were answerable for 
none of the supposed sins which they denounced, were living under a government which acknow- 
ledged property in slaves, and had no right to disturb the rights of others." — Vide" Thirty 
Years," &c, vol. ii., page 184. 

t Mr. Benton in referring to this debate, says, " The resolutions and the debate upon them con- 
stitute the most important proceeding on the subject of slavery which has ever taken place in Con- 
gress. They were framed to declare the whole power of Congress on the subject and were presented 
for a test vote, and as a future plat/arm. and permanent settlement of the law on the slavery 
question."— Vide Benton's " Abridgment of Debates," vol. xiii., page 568. 



122 INTRODUCTION OF ATHEKTON GAG-KULES. 

on the table ; but, ever steady to bis purpose, Mr. Adams embraced 
the first opportunity to lay the facts before the country in a public 

speech. 

The first and most important business apparently claiming attention 
of the democratic party, which then controlled the Government, was the 
suppression of the constitutional right of petition and of debate. To 
devise measures to effect that object, they held a caucus on the night of 
the first day of the session, at which resolutions were considered, and 
ordered to be presented to the House of Representatives. They were 
said to have been penned by Mr. Calhoun — they certainly expressed 
doctrines and asserted a policy which that Senator had previously 
avowed ; but Mr. Atherton, of New Hampshire, was selected as the 
agent to present them. They were evidently intended as a part of the 
system adopted in the Senate ; and demonstrate the character of that 
government into which it was intended to transform the Republic. They 
were couched in the following language : 

" Resolved, That this is a Government of limited powers, and that by 
the Constitution of the United States Congress has no jurisdiction over 
slavery in the several States of the confederacy. 

" Resolved, 2d, That petitions for the abolition of slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and the Territories of the United States, and against 
the removal of slaves from one State to another, are a part of a plan of 
operations set on foot to affect the institution of slavery in the several States, 
and thus indirectly to abolish it within their limits. 

" Resolved, 3d, That Congress has no right to do that indirectly 
which it cannot do directly ; and that the agitation of slavery in the 
District of Columbia or the Territories, as a means and with the view of 
disturbing or overthrowing the institution in the several States, is against 
the true spirit and meaning of the Constitution, an infringement of the 
rights of the States affected, and a breach of the public faith upon which 
they entered into the confederacy. 

" Resolved, tth, That the Constitution rests upon the broad principle 
of equality among the members of the confederacy, and that Congress, 
in the exercise of its acknowledged powers, has no right to discriminate 
between the institutions of one portion of the States and another with a 
view of abolishing one and promoting the other. 

" Resolved, therefore, That all attempts on the part of Congress to 
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia or the Territories, or to pro- 
hibit the removal of slaves from State to State, or to discriminate 
between the institutions of one portion of the confederacy and another 
with the views aforesaid, are a violation of the Constitution, destructive 



MENDACITY OF THE RESOLUTIONS. 123 

of the fundamental principles on which the union of these States rests, 
and beyond the jurisdiction of Congress : and that every petition, memo- 
rial, resolution, proposition or paper touching or relating in any way, or 
to any extent whatever, to slavery as aforesaid, or the abolition thereof, 
shall on presentation thereof, without any further action thereon, be laid 
on the table without being debated, printed, or referred." 

The unmitigated mendacity which imputed to the Christian philan- 
thropists of that day a design unconstitutionally to interfere with 
slavery in the States, excited astonishment in the minds of honest men. 
Among the petitioners thus assailed were men of high moral and Chris- 
tian character. None were more patriotic, none more enlightened. But 
the slave power and the democratic party felt it necessary to place this 
official slander upon the journals of the House ; and for a quarter of a 
century it was repeated by servile politicians and puerile demagogues. 

The mover of the resolutions, on presenting them, made a speech 
urging their adoption, and then demanded the previous question. The 
first resolution was adopted by 194 to 6. Messrs. Adams, of Massa- 
chusetts ; Evans, of Maine ; Everet and Slade, of Vermont ; Russel, 
of New York, and Potts, of Pennsylvania, voting in the negative. 

The second, or libellous resolve, was adopted by a party vote of 136 
to 65 ; the third was adopted by 164 to 40 ; the fourth by 174 to 24 ; 
and the fifth by 113 to 26. They subsequently became famous as the 
" Atherton gag."* 

These resolutions constituting the record evidence so often quoted to 
show that the advocates of liberty were seeking to invade the constitutional 
rights of the slave States by abolishing slavery therein, renders it the duty 
of the historian to say, that no petition praying Congress to interfere with 
slavery in the States had been presented in either House ; no resolution 
or bill had been presented for that purpose ; no member of Congress had 
advocated such measure by public speech nor in private conversation, so 
far as the author has knowledge, although for thirty years he held more 
public and private conversation with the lovers of liberty than perhaps 
any other member of Congress : nor did the author during that time 
ever hear or learn that any private citizen entertained an idea that Con- 
gress possessed the power, or expressed a desire that that body should 
interfere with the institution otherwise than by separating the Govern- 
ment and the people of the free States from its crimes and disgrace. 

* The writer first took his seat in Congress during this session. On inquiring of Mr. Adams why 
he voted against the first resolution, that experienced statesman informed him that, in ease of war, 
Congress and the Executive would become possessed of full power over the institution, and might 
aboluk it if deemed necessary to save the Government. 



124: MR. BLADE'S PROPOSITION. 

Southern Whigs appeared anxious to have it understood that they 
were more devoted to slavery than their democratic rivals. For this 
purpose Mr. Wise introduced propositions declaring " that petitions for the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, or in the Territories, 
were in violation of the Federal Constitution: that Congress had no power 
to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, on the high seas, or in J 
.the Territories, as a means or with a view of overturning slavery in the 
States : that the laws of Congress alone governed the arrest and return 
of fugitive slaves : that Congress cannot impose upon a State the abo- • 
lition of slavery as a condition of its admission to the Union : and, ' 
finally, that the slaveholding citizens of this Union have the right volun- 
tarily to take their slaves to and through non-slaveholding States, and 
to sojourn and remain with them temporarily in any of the States; and 
that the Federal Government is bound to protect the rights of the 
slaveholding States ;" but Mr. Wise was unable to get his propositions 
before the House for consideration. 

Mr. Slade, of "Vermont, was equally unfortunate. He presented a 
series of resolutions setting forth the existence of the slave trade in the 
District, describing its barbarous character, and declaring that the reso- 
lutions presented by Mr. Atherton and adopted by the House of Repre- 
sentatives were not intended to protect the traffic in human flesh. 

When the ayes and noes were called on suspending the rules to receive 
these resolutions, the name of John Quincy Adams was announced, being 
the first on the list. That venerable member rose, and in a clear and 
distinct voice said, " I refuse to answer, considering all the resolutions" — 
The Speaker sprang to his feet, and striking his gavel rapidly upon the 
sounding-board in front of him, called Mr. Adams to order, amid the 
most clamorous cries for " order " from .all parts of the hall. Mr. 
Adams remained standing, and appeared to listen with great solemnity to 
the admonitions of the Speaker ; and when that officer resumed his seat, 
he added : " considering all the resolutions unconstitutional." This w r as 
uttered in a clear voice which was heard above the clamors of other mem- 
bers, and the excited voice of the Speaker, calling on all members to 
assist him in restoring order ! As Mr. Adams resumed his seat, Mr. 
Thompson, of South Carolina, was recognized, and he proceeded to say, 
" the Speaker calls on members to assist him in restoring order, and I 
am anxious to do so ;" and then, with subdued voice, inquired, " what 
shall I do ?" The subdued voice of Thompson, the silence that for a 
moment pervaded the hall, the awkward interrogatory propounded, the 
whimsical position in which it placed both the Speaker and interrogator, 
appeared to impress members with a sense of the ridiculous, which was 



A SLAVE COFFLE AT THE CAPITOL. 125 

still further increased by the Speaker's declaring " the gentleman from 
South Carolina out of order." * 

The motion to suspend the rules failed, and the resolutions were not 

considered nor debated. 

. Petitions for the abolition of the coastwise slave trade, the interstate 

slave trade, the slave trade and slavery in the District of Columbia and 

in the Territories, and memorials against the annexation of Texas, were 

now constantly sent to members, presented to the House, received in 

silence, and entombed in the deep alcoves of the Clerk's rooms ; but 

none were permitted to be read, debated, or committed. 

Mr. Calhoun, of Kentucky, presented a resolution directing the Com- 
mittee on the Judiciary to report a bill declaring it a crime against the 
United States for any person to aid or assist slaves to escape from their 
masters ; but he failed to obtain a suspension of the rules, in order to 
consider it. 

Petitions for restoring commercial relations with Hayti, and others 
asking Congress to acknowledge the independence of the Haytien govern- 
ment, were presented. But these were all laid on the table, as they 
were supposed to* have relation to the " peculiar institution." 

Other petitions, praying Congress to take measures for removing the 
seat of Government to some free State, shared the common fate of peti- 
tions against slavery. 

Men in the interest of the institution now introduced the practice of 
sending threatening letters to Mr. Adams, informing him that his death 
was determined upon ; that he was to be seized, carried out of the city, 
and Lynched ; dark intimations were often given in the House, that if he 
were to go South he would not return. It appeared that southern mem- 
bers, and southern men, believed that he could be operated upon through 
fears of personal violence. 

An incident occurred on the 30th January, illustrating the , 18g9 
condition of the public mind on the subject of the slave trade. 
A slavedealer came from the interior of Maryland with some thirty 
men, marching past the Capitol in double files, each fastened by the wrist 
to a long chain passing between them from front to rear. Next came 
nearly as many women in the same order, but not chained. Many of 
them carried bundles of clothing. These were followed by a wagon 
drawn by two mules, and containing the small children of the party. 

The slave merchant was on horseback, armed- with pistols, bowie- 
knife, &c, and bearing in his hand the " plantation whip." The whole 

* This scene was reproduced in a lithographic caricature, which was widely circulated. 



126 QUARREL BETWEEN DUNCAN AND STANLEY. 

procession gave a vivid impression of the barbarism at that time prac- 
tised at the seat of Government, and upheld and encouraged by the 
democratic party and by the southern members of the Whig organiza- 
tion. The men and women appeared dejected and heartbroken as they 
passed the Capitol, and the mournful procession exhibited a heathenism 
apparently unsuited to a Christian nation.* 

The passing of this slave coffle by the Capitol of the nation excited 
attention. Mr. Slade, of Vermont, offered resolutions, reciting the facts 
by way of preamble, and proposing to raise a committee to ascertain and 
report what legislation was necessary to prevent a recurrence of such 
scenes. The presentation of this resolution created excitement, but the 
Speaker prevented all discussion by declaring that the resolution came 
within the provisions of the general rule adopted on motion of Mr. Ath- 
erton, and it was laid on the table, and all further exposure at that time 
was prevented. 

Hon. Edward Stanley was a Whig member from the State of North 
Carolina. He was present when Mr. Slade, who was also a Whig, pre- 
sented his proposition to inquire into the slave trade ; but sat silently 
attentive to passing events, and permitted the slave trade to be assailed. 

Alexander Duncan, representing the Cincinnati district of Ohio, now 
charged the Whig party with encouraging abolition. Stanley, in reply, 
read a letter signed by Duncan, addressed to the abolitionists of his dis- 
trict when a candidate for election, in which he declared his " high 
respect for abolitionists." 

Duncan was annoyed and vexed at this exposure, and on the follow- 
ing morning published a card in the papers of the city, stigmatising Stan- 
ley and other Whig members as cowards for endeavoring to fix on him 
the charge of abolition, and saying they would not demand the satisfac- 
tion of gentlemen for the insult. 

On the appearance of this article, S. S. Prentiss, of Mississippi, pre- 
sented a resolution proposing to appoint a select committee to inquire if 
Duncan was the author of the offensive paragraph, and if so, to report 
a resolution expelling him from the House. 

Prentiss was distinguished for his rhetorical powers, and on present- 
ing his resolution made a characteristic speech. Other members joined 
in the debate, and the day was spent in efforts on the part of Whigs and 

* The author was then a young member, and this was the first scene of the kind which he had 
beheld. It gave him new views of the Government under which he lived. Indeed, he looked upon 
Congress which had authorized this traffic, the people who suffered its existence, the statesmen who 
upheld and encouraged it, in a different light from ttiat in which he had previously seen them. 
They appeared thrown back into the darker ages, rather than existing in the niueteeth century. 



ME. CLAY'S SPEECH OF 1839. 127 

Democrats to fix upon each other the odium of abolition. The debate 
was cut short by Mr. Adams, who stated that he entertained doubts as 
to the right of the House to deal with a member for disorderly conduct 
outside the halls of legislation. 

The popular feeling in Congress and throughout the country ran so 
strongly against the advocates of justice to the black as well as the white 
race, that Mr. Adams now felt it his duty to explain his views upon the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. He stated that much 
had been said in regard to his course ; said he was almost daily in receipt 
of threatening letters ; and he felt it due to the public to say that while 
he had strenuously maintained the right of petition, yet he was not 
prepared to vote for emancipation at the seat of Government : on the 
contrary, if the question were then presented he would vote against it. 
He also defined his object in the course he had pursued in regard to Mr. 
Stevenson, our minister at London.* 

The leaders of the whig party were anxious to bring forward Mr. 
Clay as a candidate for the Presidency in the approaching canvass ; but 
felt that it were in vain for him to aspire to that office unless his posi- 
tion on the subject of slavery were well defined, although he had for 
many years given unmistakable evidence of his devotion to the slave 
interest. In his earlier life, while a member of the Legislature of Ken- 
tucky, he had avowed his love of liberty ; and that circumstance it was 
thought would operate against him unless he gave proof of his present 
adherence to southern interests. 

To enable him to do this, a petition was circulated in the City of 
"Washington, praying Congress to suppress all agitation in that body in 
regard to slavery and the slave trade. 

The proposition, coming as it did from a people dependent on the 
legislation of representatives from the free as well as slave States, was 
regarded as an insult to the thousands of northern memorialists who 
asked action on the subject. But this memorial, with a' large number 
of names, was placed in the hands of Mr. Clay, who presented it to the 
Senate. 

On introducing the subject, he took occasion to speak of slavery in 
the kindest terms, saying that two hundred years of legislation had 

* It should be borne in mind that Mr. Adams at this time was not supported in his efforts by any 
member except Mr. Slade, who, though a most conscientious philanthropist, and an avowed advo- 
cate of liberty, was not well calculated to defend his aged associate amid the raging elements which 
often surrounded him. Mr. Adams was at that time more than seventy years of age, and although 
remarkable for his vigor of body and intellect, he must have felt something of that lassitude which is 
ever attendant upon the decline of life. The author had served but a few weeks in Congress, and 
felt entirely incompetent to lend any assistance to older members. 



12S MR. MORRIS CONFRONTS MR. CLAY. 

" sanctioned and sanctified it," and declaring " that is 'property which the 
law makes property," and assailed the abolitionists with more severity 
than he was accustomed to use.* 

The speech drew from Mr. Calhoun complimentary remarks at the 
close, and it appeared in the " National Intelligencer " the next morn- 
ing. It gave offence to the Quaker population, and to the abolitionists 
of the free States generally, and proved to be literally the unfortunate 
speech of his life. 

The second day after Mr. Clay had spoken, Mr. Morris, of Ohio, 
replied to him. This gentleman was a Democrat, had been reared upon 
the frontier, was indebted to his own industry and self-culture for his 
position. A man of strong native intellect, he always spoke his own 
honest convictions without offence. 

On presenting a large number of memorials for the abolition of the 
coastwise slave trade, for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in 
the District of Columbia and in the Territories, he replied at length to 
Mr. Clay. He declared his high respect for the friends of liberty who 
were seeking to abolish slavery and the slave trade where Congress held 
the constitutional power, and frankly avowed himself in full sympathy 
with them. He exhibited the unjust and unconstitutional mode of 
entombing in silence and forgetfulness petitions, which the Senate 
ought to consider ami promptly to act upon. 

This was the first speech in favor of constitutional liberty made in 
the Senate for many years. Mr. Morris had long been a leading mem- 
ber of Hie democratic party of Ohio ; but this speech forfeited the con- 
fidence of his political supporters, who regarded devotion to slavery as 
the highest policy which the party could adopt ; while many leading 
men believed the speech of Mr. Clay excluded him from the Presidential 
chair. It is certain that nearly every slave State was democratic in 
character, as the term "Democracy" was 'then understood. While 

* The author, learning the character of the speech, at once addressed a note to Mr. Clay, asking 
in kind and respectful language, whether that gentleman intended to discard the abolitionists from 
his support in the coming Presid mtial election ? The note was written under some degree of feel- 
ing. Mr. Clay did not send an answer in writing, but came in person to see the writer. He had 
been told that I was an active politician, wielding some influence in my State, and he assured me 
that lie desired to obtain the most general support of the people, and stated that northern Whigs 
had desired him to denounce the abolitionists. I assured him that the abolitionists were honest and 
correct in regard to slavery ; that the public conscience of the North was with them : that the only 
circumstance that would induce them to sustain him was his early devotion to liberty : that those 
doctrines lay near my own heart, and I could not conscientiously support any man who denied 
them. Mr. Clay replied kindly and seriously, declaring that my reasoning was sound, said that he 
should revise his speech before it went to press, and would modify the language, so far as he could 
with propriety, before it appeared in print. 

The writer believes that no act of his life gave Mr. Clay so much confidence in him as this note 
and the conversation which followed. 



VERMONT INSULTED. 129 

almost the entire strength of the whig party lay in the free States. It 
is also certain that every effort to strengthen the Whigs in the South 
lost some portion of their moral and political power in the North ; 
while all attempts to gain influence with the friends of liberty, excluded 
such statesmen from southern confidence. In this position of parties, it 
was supposed to be the interest of all mere partisans to say as little as 
possible on the subject of oppression. And it was understood that those 
members who insisted upon the right of petition or the freedom of debate, 
or asserted the doctrine of man's inalienable rights, could not expect the 
support of either the whig or democratic organizations. 

The Legislature of Vermont, feeling the wrongs to which the northern 
States were subjected, passed resolutions instructing her Senators, and 
requesting her Representatives to oppose the passage of any law for the 
annexation of Texas to the United States, and to use their influence to 
abolish slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia, upon our 
southern coast, and in our Territories. Mr. Prentiss presented these 
resolutions to the Senate, and made the usual motion to print them. 
This respect had always been awarded to the resolves of sovereign 
States ; but the Senate hesitated on this occasion. 

Mr. Calhoun seemed unusually excited by this manifestation of 
northern independence. He declared his perfect astonishment that the 
people of Vermont did not see that this question struck at the very 
foundation of the Union. Other Senators also assailed the Legislature 
and people of Vermont in offensive language, and Mr. Lumpkin, of 
Georgia, moved to lay the motion to print on the table. 

This motion was sustained by 29 to 8. Messrs. Swift and Prentiss, 
of Vermont ; Knight and Robbins, of Rhode Island ; Davis, of Massa- 
chusetts ; McKean, of Pennsylvania ; Morris, of Ohio, and Smith, of 
Indiana, constituting the negative : while Messrs. Pearce and Hubbard, 
of New Hampshire ; Smith, of Connecticut ; Wright, of New York ; 
Southard, of New Jersey; Buchanan, of Pennsylvania : Allen, of Ohio ; 
Tipton, of Indiana ; Robinson and Young, of Illinois, voted with the 
slaveholders ; and Messrs. Ruggles and Williams, of Maine ; Webster, 
of Massachusetts ; Niles, of Connecticut ; Tallmadge, of New York, 
and Wall, of New Jersey, neglected to vote. 

This was the first instance in our history that such an insult had been 
. offered to the people of a sovereign State, and in its perpetration ten 
Senators' from free States participated, and six others were too indif- 
ferent to northern rights and northern honor, or too fearful of southern 
frowns, to interpose their voices in favor of freedom. 

As southern statesmen endeavored to suppress the right of petition, 

9 



130 ASSAULT UPON THE SLAVE TRADE. 

the people increased the number of memorials, until they became a bur- 
den to the members who were willing to present them, and Mr. Adams 
publicly declared that he had six hundred in his drawer awaiting pre- 
sentation. 

„ On the 4th of February, Hon. Eli Moore, -of New York, pre- 

sented to the House of Representatives a memorial numerously 
signed by the people of the District of Columbia, asking Congress to 
exclude from consideration all petitions and memorials from the "people 
of any State praying the abolition of slavery or the slave trade in said 
District. Mr. Moore made a characteristic speech, arguing that the 
people there had the right to continue the slave trade and slavery in the 
District without interruption by the people of the free States. Some 
members now began to feel the despotism to which they were subjected. 
They were constrained to sit in silence and hear their constituents 
assailed and slandered, but were not permitted to reply. 

On the 13th of February, the House, while in Committee of the 
Whole on the state of the Union, took up for consideration a bill appro- 
priating $30,000 for building a bridge across the eastern branch of the 
Potomac, within the District of Columbia. The object was to benefit 
the people of Washington City particularly, and those of the District 
generally. 

Mr. Giddings now moved to strike out the enacting clause of the bill, 
and the motion being stated, he proceeded to declare his opposition to 
any appropriation of public treasure for the benefit of the people of that 
District, so long as they maintained a commerce in the bodies of their 
fellow-men. They had but a few days previously asked Congress to 
exclude from consideration all petitions from the people of the free 
States on the subject of this commerce, and he declared himself unwilling 
to repay such insults to his constituents by taxing them to build up a 
slave market. The members had recently enjoyed an opportunity to 
judge of the barbarism of this slave trade. While coming to the capital, 
they had been compelled to turn aside, to make room for the passage of 
a herd of human chattels, chained, and on their way to the slave 
market. 

A sensation now ran through the hall. The writer was then a young 
member, having served scarcely sixty days, and was not expected to 
assail the action of a majority. Mr. Rives, of Virginia, called him to 
order. Mr. Giddings stated that he was merely assigning his reasons 
for the motion which he had made. 

The chairman, Mr. Rencher, of North Carolina, a slaveholder, decided 
that he was in order ; and he proceeded to say that while the people of 



EXCITEMENT IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 131 

the free States were thus insulted, they would not forget their own self- 
respect so far as to approve the appropriation now proposed. At this 
point, he was again called to order, and again the chairman decided 
that he was in order ; and he continued saying that all northern mem- 
bers were willing and anxious to beautify and adorn the city, to estab- 
lish schools, and such a system of education as would render it worthy 
of a free nation, when 

Mr Williams, of Tennessee, called him to order ; but the chairman 
again decided that he was in order. 

The excitement had now increased, and great disorder was manifested 
in various parts of the hall, and before order was so far restored as to 
enable him to proceed, Mr. Howard, of Maryland, interposed a ques- 
tion. The chairman required him to reduce his question to writing. Mr. 
Howard insisted that the rules of the House did not require him to 
do so. The chairman decided that they did require it. Mr. Howard 
appealed. 

In arguing the appeal, Mr. Glasscock, of Georgia,, insisted that if such 
arguments as the writer had used were permitted, the Union would be 
dissolved. To which Mr. Giddings replied that the inference to be 
drawn from such threats, was that the Union was based upon the slave 
trade. To which Mr. Glasscock rejoined in an undertone, and in language 
more vulgar than statesmanlike, saying, " you are a d — d liar." 

The excitement increased. Mr. Adams and Mr. Slade came to the 
assistance of Mr. Giddings ; but the chairman appeared to be alarmed, 
and at length decided that Mr. Giddings was out of order, and he was 
compelled to resume his seat. 

But the motion to strike out the enacting clause of the bill was- 
carried, and the bill was defeated. The success of the motion consti- 
tuted a rebuke to the slavedealers, and created much feeling through- 
out the city. 

In the papers of the next day the author was assailed, and one writer 
declared that the vote defeating the bill had depreciated the price of real ' 
estate in the city. Mr. Putnam, of New York, replied to these attacks 
through the papers, and there the subject rested. 

As the cession drew to a close, Mr. Cambrelling, of New York, 
moved a resolution, authorizing each member to lay such petitions as he 
had in his possession on the table, and making it the duty of the Clerk 
to file and deposit them in their appropriate place in his office. This 
proposition was adopted. 

On the 25th February, Mr. Adams asked a suspension of the rules, 
for the purpose of laying before the members a proposition so»to amend 



132 AMENDMENT OF CONSTITUTION PROPOSED. 

the Constitution of the United States, as to abolish slavery in all the 
States after the 4th July, a.d. 1842, and providing there shall be 
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the District of Columbia 
after the 4th July, 1845. He stated that this proposition was based 
apon the petition of John Jay and forty-three other citizens of New 
York. But the House refused to suspend the rules, and the motion was 
not received. 



LEADING CHARACTERISTIC OF TWENTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. 133 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FURTHER EFFORTS TO INVOLVE THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN THE SUPPORT 
OF THE SLAVE TRADE— THE NATURAL RIGHT OF AFRICANS TO LIFE AND 
LIBERTY SUSTAINED BY THE JUDICIAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT— THE 
SECOND SEMINOLE WAR. 

The leading characteristic of the twenty-sixth Congress was an 
entire devotion to political parties. Every member was supposed ^ 
to belong to one or the other of the two political organizations for 
which he was expected to labor, and argue, and vote. No individual 
was authorized by them to avow any doctrine or political principle until 
it had been examined and approved in caucus. The democratic party 
were in power in all branches of the Government, and had long been in 
power. All bills were at that time suggested by the Executive or sub- 
mitted to the heads of departments for approval prior to being placed 
before either branch of Congress, and nearly every measure was supposed 
to contain some provision favorable to the party in power. 

The ruling spirits of both parties were slaveholders. Mr Clay was 
the favorite of the Whigs. Mr. Webster was also held in high respect 
though it was impossible for any man who submitted so quietly to the 
dictation of slavery as Mr. Webster, to command that influence which 
was necessary to constitute a successful politician. 

Mr. Calhoun was the object of political idolatry in South Carolina, 
and wielded more influence than any other statesman of the nation • but 
his doctrines in regard to "secession," or as they were usually called 
"nullification," had brought him in conflict with General Jackson and 
thereby ruined his prospects for the presidency. Yet he appeared to 
cherish the hope of reaching that high office at some time in the future. 
On the subject of slavery and every collateral question connected with 
that institution, the entire South acted as a unit, while on other subjects 
they were divided. The northern members of both parties felt entirely 
dependent upon their southern friends, who dictated all movements of 
their respective organizations. 

Mr. Adams had attained a position which forbade him to look to any 
party as a guide to his conduct. Mr. Blade, of Vermont, was a Whi- 
had held office in the State Department under Mr. Clay during the ad- 
ministration of Mr. Adams, was an ardent supporter of his party but 



134 MEMBEES OPPOSED TO SLAVEET. 

entertained a sense of justice, a love of liberty altogether too strong to 
obey the dictation of slaveholders. He acted with Mr. Adams gene- 
rally on the subject of slavery. 

The author of this work had served only one session, and at the time 
of which we are speaking, was regarded as a Whig of somewhat doubt- 
ful character, in consequence of the motion relative to the slave trade 
which he made at the last session and his remarks thereon. 

Another member now entered Congress as an acknowledged and avowed 
supporter of human rights. Hon. Seth M. Gates, of Genesee County, 
New York, was a lawyer of fair reputation, of high moral character, 
an active, industrious supporter of what he believed right. He was a 
most devoted Christian and philanthropist, never faltering in what he 
regarded the performance of duty. 

These four members stood aloof from political parties whenever subjects 
involving moral principle were agitated or the rights of humanity were 
in issue. Many northern Whigs sympathized with them, but the writer 
is not aware that any other member was willing to vote against his party 
on any question touching slavery. The author was perhaps as strongly 
opposed to slavery as either of the gentlemen referred to, and felt as 
deeply humiliated by the despotism to which members of Congress were 
subjected, but as yet he had formed in his own mind no definite course 
of action for himself further than a general opposition to slavery. There 
were also in the country many abolition societies. They urged the 
abolition of slavery in general terms, but proposed no definite plan of 
operations. 

18g9 This was the state of the slave question at the opening of the 

twenty-sixth Congress, which was distinguished first by the great 
contest in regard to the delegation from New Jersey ; and secondly, it 
inaugurated a systematic and determined energy in the presidential can- 
vass which had never been known before. These measures so absorbed 
the public mind that little attention was paid to the subject of slavery. 

Soon as the committees of the House were announced, however, Mr. 
Wise moved a resolution declaring that whenever any petition, resolution, 
or paper should be presented touching the abolition of slavery, or the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia, or in the Territories of the United 
States, the question of reception shall be made, and that question laid 
on the table. 

Mr. Wise was a Whig, and was evidently anxious to relieve northern 
Whigs from the charge of complicity with abolitionists. 

Mr. Adams opposed the measure, and most of the northern Whigs 
voted against it. It was subjected to some little modification, but after 



DETERIORATION OF PUBLIC MORALS. 185 

much resistance and many propositions to amend, was adopted by the 
House. 

The general historian will find much to interest the reader in the pro- 
ceedings of the twenty-sixth Congress. At no period of our Govern- 
ment, has the morality of our public men sunk so low, or frauds and pec- 
ulations appeared so common : indeed, the doctrine introduced in the 
Senate in 1811, by Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, "that governments 
are not bound by moral law," had been publicly maintained by Mr. Cal- 
houn, and supported by every adherent of slavery, and its results were 
now manifested in its practical operations in all departments of the 
Government. 

Leading Democrats, in order to gain political power, charged the 
Whigs with favoring abolitionists ; insisting that the only abolitionists 
who were members of Congress were also Whigs ; and resolutions, votes, 
and proceedings of democratic meetings held in various parts of the 
country were read as evidence that the whig party favored the doctrines 
of freedom. 

To counteract these efforts, Mr. Clay, in a public speech delivered in 
the Senate, avowed his satisfaction that certain pro-slavery publications 
had been put forth exposing the fallacy of abolition, and he named " A 
Review of Dr. Channing's Opinion of Slavery," "Abolition a Sedition," 
"Thoughts on Domestic Slavery;" all of them he regarded as able works, 
and commended them to public favor. 

Mr. Calhoun again complimented Mr. Clay and congratulated the 
country upon the prospect that quiet in regard to slavery would soon be 
restored to the country. But thereupon, another debate arose as to the 
best mode of receiving petitioners in regard to memorals. Mr. Buchanan 
still insisting that the better plan would be to present the petitions, and 
then move that the prayer be not granted ; but no member proposed to 
refer the petitions and grant the prayer, or state the reasons why it ought 
not to be granted, in the language of kindness and respect. 

The Florida war was yet in progress. It was found very difficult to 
capture the negroes, and as that object constituted the main stimulus for 
its prosecution, those most deeply interested suggested the propriety of 
sendino- to Cuba for bloodhounds trained to the business of hunting 

slaves. 

The Executive appeared to hesitate as to adopting so barbarous a 
mode of warfare, even towards Africans. But while the Executive hesi- 
tated, the Legislature of Florida made an appropriation, sent an agent 
to Cuba, obtained some thirty bloodhounds, with Spaniards to attend 
and train them. When the animals were obtained, the United Stages 



136 BLOODHOUNDS USED TO CAPTURE NEGROES. 

authorities took charge of them, and the funds of the nation were appro- 
priated to defray the expense, and the troops of the United States were 
now called to act upon the field in company with piratical Spaniards, 
professed negro-catchers, and bloodhounds. 

The Whigs, learning these facts, now charged the Administration and 
democratic party with the odium of this barbarous outrage upon the 
civilization of the age. 

Petitions were also sent to the Senate protesting against the use of 
bloodhounds for the murder of innocent people. These assaults were 
keenly felt by slaveholding Senators, who declared the Administration 
was entirely unconnected with the transaction and in no degree respon- 
sible for it. The petitions were referred to the Committee on Military 
Affairs, of which Col. Benton was chairman. He called on Mr. Poinsett, 
Secretary of War, for information. That officer was from South Carolina, 
a slaveholder, and accustomed to speaking boldly on all subjects touching 
slavery. He admitted the employment of the bloodhounds by the United 
States, and attempted to justify the policy. The subject attracted atten- 
tion in the House of Representatives, and was noticed very generally by 
the public press. On all hands the Whigs assailed the democratic party 
with having employed bloodhounds to prosecute the Florida war. 

But while Mr. Calhoun and the democratic party and south- 

1R40 1 ' 

em Whigs had long deprecated all agitation of the subject of 
slavery in either House of Congress, it was now found important to 
obtain further positive action in favor of the coastwise slave trade. 
Having directed the energies of our own Government to the support of 
slavery, Mr. Calhoun now put forth an attempt to constrain the British 
Ministry to acknowledge that worse than infidel dogma, that human beings 
may by legislative enactment be transformed into property. The occasion 
of this effort arose as follows : 

In the year 1835, the domestic slave trade having become profitable, 
a few individuals in the City of Washington, desirous of sharing in the 
profits arising from that commerce, built a ship for the purpose of em- 
ploying it in the transportation of slaves "from the District of Columbia 
to New Orkxtns and other ports far south." 

The ship was called the " Enterprise," and cleared from the port of 
Alexandria on the 22d January, 1835, for the port of Charleston, with 
a cargo of slaves collected principally in the District of Columbia, and 
it being her first trip her owners went with her in order to inform them- 
selves more particularly in regard to the vocation on which they had 

entered. 

Encountering severe storms, the ship was driven out of her course, and 



DEMAND FOR SHIPWRECKED SLAVES. 137 

having suffered severely in her rigging, put into Port Hamilton, Bermu- 
da, for repairs. 

For a century it had been regarded as the settled law of nations that 
the jurisdiction of every independent government was co-extensive with 
its own territory, reaching a marine league into the sea. If a ship came 
into the port of another nation, she was boarded by the health officer of 
the port long before reaching shore ; licensed pilots and revenue officers 
entered on board ; they called for bills of health, manifests and informa- 
tion as to her cargo and the health of her people, and the persons on 
board were amenable to the local laws. Such was the case with the 
slaves on board the " Enterprise " when they entered Port Hamilton. 
They were no longer subjected to the American law of slavery, but 
were Under the protection of British laws, they therefore went on shore 
in pursuit of their own happiness. 

The captain demanded of the local authorities assistance to hold 
t lum in bondage ; but British laws recognizing no distinction between 
masters and slaves, disregarded the captain's demand, and the slave 
merchants, disappointed at the loss of their human chattels, returned to 
Washington City, indignant that the laws of England should have thus 
interfered with their anticipated speculations in human flesh. 

They laid their complaints before General Jackson, at that time Presi- 
dent of the United States. He at once espousal their cause, aud 
through the Secretary of State demanded of the British Government a 
compensation for the loss. 

To this demand the British minister replied : That by the law of 
nations, the ship on entering Port Hamilton became subject to British 
laws. That there were three, parties to the transaction. 1, The slave- 
dealers ; 2, The British authorities ; and 3, The slaves, who demanded 
their liberty. There was in that port no law of slavery, and no British 
officer could recognize the right of one man to hold another as property. 

This argument of the British Ministry was based upon the principle 
that the slave trade was barbarous, and not to be encouraged by Chris- 
tian nations. This reflection was felt more keenly for its truth ; and 
the assertion that men could not hold men as property seemed to charac- 
terize slavery as an acknowledged despotism. It was, however, a reas- 
sertion of the doctrine on which our Government had been founded ; for 
the overthrow of which the advocates of human bondage had labored 
long and ardently. 

Stung by the reflection thus cast upon the institution, Mr. Calhoun 
presented to the Senate three propositions, as he said, declaratory of the 
law of nations. 



138 mb. calhoun's propositions. 

The first asserted that, " a ship or vessel on the high seas in time of 
peace, engaged in a lawful voyage, is by the law of nations under the 
exclusive jurisdiction of the state to which her flag belongs." 

The second declared that, " should such a ship be forced by stress of 
weather, or other unavoidable accident, into a friendly port, she would 
lose none of the rights pertaining to her on the high seas. On the con- 
trary, she. and her cargo and the persons on board, with their properly, 
and all the rights belonging to their personal relations as established by 
the laws of the state to which they belong, would be under the protec- 
tion which the law of nation extends to the unfortunate under such 
circumstances." 

The third asserted, " that the brig ' Enterprise,' which was unavoid- 
ably forced by stress of weather into Port Hamilton, Bermuda, while on 
a lawful voyage on the high seas, from one port of the United States to 
another, comes within the principles of the foregoirjg resolution, and that 
the seizure and detention of the negroes by the local authorities of that 
island was an act in violation of the laws of nations, and highly unjust to 
our citizens to whom they belonged." 
1Mn . The advocates of human bondage seldom mentioned the word 

1640. J 

" slave," or " slave trade." Neither was used in these resolu- 
tions ; but Mr. Calhoun and other Senators assumed that a ship engaged 
in the coastwise slave trade was pursuing a lawful voyage : that she car- 
ried with her the laws of the state from whence she sailed while upon 
the high seas, and when constrained through stress of weather to enter 
a friendly port, she carried those laws with her, and while in such port 
the master enjoyed all the rights of buying and selling, of chastising, 
and in case of resistance, of slaying his slaves, however repugnant those 
acts may be to the laws or the government into whose jurisdiction the 
ship may have entered. 

These propositions were sustained by Messrs. Calhoun, Grundy, of 
Tennessee, and King, of Alabama. They were then referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs ; and after a few days, reported back to 
the Senate by Mr. Buchanan. 

They were again advocated by Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Clay and Mr. Ben- 
ton, and opposed by Mr. Porter, of Michigan. This gentleman had but 
just taken his seat in the Senate, was a lawyer by profession, a man of 
high moral character, but possessing no distinction as a statesman. He 
had not even looked into this particular subject until it was presented, and 
the resolutions were supported by the most distinguished Senators of the 
nation. He now looked around him, and saw that Webster, and Davis, 
and Wright were silent. Obeying the dictates of his own judgment and 



ATTEMPT TO CHANGE THE LAW OF NATIONS. 139 

conscience, he heroically met the overwhelming influence arrayed against 
him, and showed the most cogent reasons for rejecting the resolutions, 
by exhibiting the absurdity of an attempt to change the law of nations 
by senatorial resolutions ; and the yet greater absurdity of the attempt 
to induce the British Government to acknowledge the laws of slavery 
and of the slave trade to exist and be in force within her ports. 

Mr. Porter concluded his remarks by moving to lay the resolutions of 
Mr. Calhoun on the table, and boldly demanded the yeas and nays on 
the question. And on the roll being called he alone voted in favor of 
his motion : while every Senator from the slave States and Messrs. 
Allen and Tappan, of Ohio ; Buchanan and Sturgeon, of Pennsylvania ; 
Dixon, of Rhode Island ; Hubbard and Pierce, of New Hampshire ; 
Robinson and Young, of Illinois ; Williams, of Maine, and his colleague, 
Norvell, voted with the slaveholders : and Messrs. Webster and Davis, 
of Massachusetts ; Southard and Wall, of New Jersey ; Wright and 
Tallmadge, of New York ; Ruggles, of Maine ; Smith and White, of 
Indiana, and Knight, of Rhode Island, declined voting, apparently un- 
willing to take position either in favor or against the resolutions. The 
Senate was divided as follows : for the resolutions, 33 ; against them, 1. 
Neither for nor agaiust them, 10 ; one vacancy and five absent. The 
resolutions were then adopted by 33 yeas. None voting in the 
negative. 

The adoption of these resolutions constituted the first attempt to con- 
strain foreign governments to acknowledge the supremacy of slavery. 

Another effort was made during the twenty-sixth Congress to render 
our free States more entirely subsidiary to the institution. 

In May, 1831, the captain of the ship " Boston" of Maine, from 
Georgia, homeward bound, after being some thirty hours at sea, found a 
colored man on board, who being landed in Maine, continued his journey 
to Canada, where under British laws he became free. 

These facts being known, the Governor of Georgia demanded the 
captain as a fugitive from justice, charged with " stealing a slave." No 
such crime being known to the laws of Maine, the Governor of that 
State refused to surrender him. 

The Governor of Georgia, apparently indignant at the people of Maine 
for treating slaves as persons, and not subjects of larceny, transmitted a 
m< -age to the Legislature of his State settiug forth the facts stated. 

The Legislature adopted strong resolutions calling on Congress to 
am- nd the law in regard to fugitives from justice so as to require the 
surrender of persons charged with stealing slaves. 

Mr. Lumpkin, of Georgia, presented these resolutions and sustained 



140 RESOLUTIONS TOUCHING BLOODHOUNDS. 

them by an elaborate argument, as did bis colleague, Mr. Cutbbert, and 
tbe resolutions were sent to the Committee on the Judiciary, where they 
were buried in silence, the committee deeming it improper to agitate 
that question in the then excited state of the public mind. 

While these efforts of the slaveholders were being put forth in the 
Senate, Mr. Rhett, of South Carolina, presented to the House of Repre- 
sentatives resolutions instructing the Committee on Foreign Affairs to 
inquire into the circumstances under which the slaves on board the brig 
" Enterprise " were taken from their masters in Port Hamilton, Bermuda ? 
The resolution was laid on the table and never called up for con- 
sideration. 

The freedom of debate in the House of Representatives at the 
period of which we are writing, was entirely suppressed on the 
subject of slavery, and members often resorted to the practice of embody- 
ing the substance of what they wished to say in resolutions which they 
presented to the House. 

On the 9th March, Mr. Adams introduced a resolve of that charac- 
ter, as follows : 

" Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to report to this 
House the natural, political, and martial history of the bloodhounds ; 
showing the peculiar fitness of that class of warriors to be the associates 
of the gallant army of the United States ; showing the nice discrimina- 
tion of his scent between the blood of the freeman and the slave, be- 
tween the blood of the armed warrior and that of women or children ; 
between the blood of the black and the white ; between the blood of the 
savage Seminole and the Anglo pious Christian. Also the number 
of bloodhounds, and their conductors, imported by this Government, or 
by the authorities of Florida from the island of Cuba, and the costs of 
importation ? Also whether a further importation of the same heroic 
race into the State of Maine to await the contingency of a threatened 
northeastern boundary question, is contemplated ? Or, only to set an 
example to be followed by our possible adversary in the event of a con. 
flict, Avhcther measures have been taken to secure exclusively to our- 
selves the employment of this auxiliary force ? and whether he deems 
it expedient to extend to the bloodhounds and their posterity the bene- 
fits of the pension laws." 

But as the resolution gave rise to debate, it was laid on the table. I 
will be remembered that in a former chapter we spoke of the employ- 
ment of these bloodhounds, and refer to the subject only to give place to 
the resolution just cited, as one of the passing incidents which marked 
the proceedings of Congress. 



CULMINATING POINT OF SLAVERY. 141 

The oligarchs of our southern States were much annoyed by the flight 
of their bondmen to the Canadas, where they were welcomed and soon 
became' useful subjects of the British crown. When they once reached 
the jurisdiction of British laws they regarded themselves safe from 
the master's scourge. To remedy this practice, Hon. Garret Davis, of 
Kentucky, proposed, by resolutions, to call on the Executive to open 
negotiations with the British Government, and if possible obtain a treaty 
by which fugitive slaves should be surrendered, or the value of the slave 
paid to the master by the government of England ; but the proposition 
was not sustained by the House.* 

The student of our political history will in future regard the despotism 
of slavery as having reached its culminating point during this first session 
of the twenty-sixth Congress. Northern submission then descended to 
its lowest depths ; from that time resistance to the slave power became 
stronger and more frequent. And although for a while the struggle 
appeared unequal, the grasp of southern politicians upon political power 
began gradually to relax in proportion as the advocates of liberty in- 
creased in numbers and influence. 

The presidential campaign of 1840 contributed greatly to awaken the 
public mind to the corruptions of the democratic party, and of the slave 
power which controlled its operations. Oppression can only thrive in 
quietude, and quietude under oppression can only be cultivated in the 
sterile soil of ignorance. With the exception of four years, the demo- 
cratic party had been in power for a quarter of a century ; during that 
time it had become despotic, corruption keeping pace with despotism; 
and now, for the first time in the history of the nation, the people were 
directly and personally addressed and invoked to arouse and hurl from 
office a party denounced as unworthy of public confidence. The Whio-s 
laid down no essential principle, no fundamental doctrine on which they 
rallied ; they took no distinct issue with the democratic party except 
on some minor points of policy ; but the canvass was conducted through- 
out by continued exhibitions of the frauds, peculations, corruptions, des- 
potisms, and unworthiness of the democratic candidates. Southern 
Whigs denounced them as favoring abolition, northern Whigs arraigned 
them as the mere instruments for carrying out the despotism of slavery ; 
showed that they had stricken down the right of petition, had silenced the 
freedom of debate, maintained the slave trade in the District of Columbia 
and on our southern coast, and done many other things destructive of 
liberty and free government. They flooded the country with Congres- 

* Twenty-two years afterwards Mr. Davis was a member of the Senate, from Kentucky, and con- 
tinued to utter his preference for slavery without any apparent change of opinion. 



142 ELECTION OF TEESIDENT HARRISON. 

sional speeches, reports of committees, and official documents. Political 
orators travelled every State and nearly every county and town, address- 
ing public meetings, and calling on the people to come forth in the true 
spirit of our institutions, and by their votes save the Government and 
country from that sure destruction which must in time await it, if exist- 
ing evils were not corrected. 

.£,„, Mr. Yan Buren was the democratic candidate ; he was an 

able man, and had labored to correct and reform his party ; but 
unfortunately for himself, was controlled by southern politicians, who 
were far less discreet. 

G eneral Harrison, the whig candidate, was a citizen of Ohio. He had 
distinguished himself in the war of 1812, and had, like the sons of the 
" first families of Virginia," held office from his youth. He was not only 
a son of the Old Dominion, but had been reared a slaveholder, and his 
whole life had been acceptable to the slave power'. 

Some of the more active anti-slavery men of the country would not sup- 
port either Mr. Van Buren or General Harrison ; but nominated Hon. 
James G. Birney, a citizen of Kentucky, a lawyer of high moral character, 
who, having been called to investigate the question of "property in slaves," 
became impressed with the absurdity of the dogma, as well as of the institu- 
tion itself. He emancipated his own bondmen, and avowed his hostility 
to the institution. He was sustained by " The Philanthropist," a news- 
paper published at Cincinnati, Ohio, ably conducted by " Gamaliel 
Bailey, Esq.," who for twenty years had been a devoted advocate of 
liberty. 

The vote for Mr. Birney was small, but the mere fact that a man bred 
a slaveholder had become an anti-slavery candidate for President, was 
looked upon by southern statesmen as a portentous omen. 

General Harrison was elected by a triumphant vote, and the prestige 
of the democratic party was somewhat impaired, and the manifestation 
of discontent under slaveholding despotism created uneasiness among 
southern politicians, while it strengthened and confirmed northern men 
in their hatred of oppression. 

The whig members of Congress had professed disgust at the gag-rules 
under which they were constrained to sit, and the whig press of the 
country had condemned the suppression of debate as well as prohibiting 
the right of petition ; and no one appeared to doubt that on coming 
into power that party would restore those natural and constitutional 
prerogatives of the people. 

lg401 A new state of things existed at the meeting of the twenty- 

sixth Congress for the purpose of holding its test session. The 



CASE OF THE " AMI8TAD." 143 

Democrats were going out of power, and the responsibilities of the 
Government were soon to be assumed by the whig party. The ques- 
tion of slavery had not been an issue between the Whigs and Demo- 
crats, and no one expected the President elect would cast his influence, 
against slavery, further than to favor the right of petition and the free- 
dom of debate : on other points the Whigs hoped much and the 
Democrats feared much from the influence of the incoming Executive ; 
yet the Whigs merely demanded that he should favor a high tariff, a 
national bank, and the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands. 
But during the early part of the session, little was said on party ques- 
tions, which by common consent were pretermitted to a more conve- 
nient season. 

On the first day of the session Mr. Adams gave notice of his intention 
to move a repeal of the " gag resolution," as it was called, which now 
constituted the 21st rule of the House. 

The Legislature of South Carolina having adopted a long report 
and resolutions expressing their approval of Mr. Van Buren's administra- 
tion, and lauding him for his devotion to southern interests, and denounc- 
ing the election of General Harrison as having been obtained by disre- 
putable and unworthy appeals to the people, transmitted them to Senator 
Preston, of that State, who presented them to the Senate. But no 
Senator took exception to this supercilious reproof of those northern 
States whose people had voted without respect to the wishes of South 
Carolina. 

An incident now occurred well calculated to confirm mankind in the 
philosophy, that the will of the Creator is manifested in the laws which 
govern the moral and physical universe, giving to all men imprescript- 
ible rights to live and to that liberty which shall enable them to support 
life, obtain knowledge and enjoy happiness. Indeed, history, observa- 
tion and experience show that a love of life and liberty inspires every 
human soul to effort : hence, every man or government, that seeks to 
enslave or murder innocent men or women, violates this " law of nature 
and of nature's God," and makes war upon the will of Omnipotence. 

In June, 1839, a Cuban slave ship landed her cargo of human beings 
at Havana ; the negroes were imprisoned in the barracoons of that city 
a short time, when forty-nine of them were purchased by I. Ruiz, a 
slavedealer, and three others by P. Montez. A pass for these fifty-two 
persons was obtained from the Governor by paying him the usual fee, 
which constitutes a portion of his official perquisites for permitting the 
foreign slave trade to be carried on in that island. This pass was 
merely a license to Montez and Ruiz to transport certain Ladinos (or 



1-il QUESTION OF PROPERTY IN MEN. 

acclimated slaves), naming them, from Havana to Principe, on the south 
of the island. 

The slaves were shipped on board 'the schooner " Amistad" about the 
1st of July, and on the same day she sailed for her port of destination. 
The crew consisted of the captain, mate, and three sailors ; three pas- 
sengers were also on board besides Montez and Ruiz and their slaves. 

When four days out, and while sailing along the coast, the Africans 
by preconcert suddenly rose upon their oppressors, slew the captain and 
cook, and wounded two of the crew. The others surrendered, and the 
slaves took possession of the ship, and in one half hour the " status" of 
these parties was reversed. The Africans held their masters in subjec- 
tion, and the haughty slavedealer now meekly bowed to that class of 
beings whom but a few moments previously he had called his "property.'" 
But these Pagans were too sensitive to the dictates of natural justice to 
hold their Christian victims in bondage. They immediately sent the 
crew and passengers on shore in the boat, but retained Ruiz and Mon- 
tez, directing them by- signs to guide the ship to Africa, their native 
land, from which slaveholding cupidity had torn them. 

But the Spaniards, taking advantage of the foggy weather, and of 
the darkness of night, headed the ship northwardly, and at length came 
to anchor near the east end of Long Island, on the coast of Connecticut. 

Lieutenant Gedney, of the schooner " Washington," engaged on the 
coast survey, took possession of the "Amistad" aud cargo, claiming 
salvage on both property and negroes, whom he believed to constitute 
"property:" while he permitted Montez and Ruiz, the only criminals 
engaged in the transaction, to go at liberty. But the moral sense of 
the community would have consigned them to the gallows, and set the 
slaves at liberty. 

The whole transaction was published in the papers, and created much 
interest. People of the free States now saw the slave trade brought 
home to the shores of New England. Its crimes and its horrors were 
unveiled to the public view, while the native love of liberty had been man- 
ifested in the heroism with which these barbarians obtained possession of 
the ship. 

The Spanish minister, in the name of his government, demanded that 
these heroic Africans should be sent back to Cuba and delivered up to 
the authorities of that island to be punished for regaining their freedom, 
which .by the people of our free States was regarded as a " heroic 
virtue." 

But, to the extreme mortification of northern people, the President 
favored the claims of the slavedealers ; aud instead of setting the 



THE PRESIDENT'S BARBAROUS INTENTION. 145 

negroes free, they were seized and imprisoned under authority of the 
United States at the instance of the Spanish minister ; while Montez 
and Ruiz claimed them as their property. The United States district 
attorney appeared on behalf of Montez and Ruiz as well as of the 
Spanish minister. The proceedings were had before the United States 
district court for the State of Connecticut. In the meantime the phil- 
anthropists of New England were not idle spectators of these incidents. 
They engaged eminent counsel to appear on behalf of the negroes, and 
maintain their natural and legal rights to freedom. 

Southern statesmen were nervously excited. All trials for violations 
of the law prohibiting the slave trade had been previously intrusted to 
southern courts, and no person had been convicted. Indeed, such was 
the sympathy of the people of the slave States for slavedealers that no 
conviction for the crime of slavedealing could be obtained before a slave- 
holding court and a slaveholding jury. But a trial for that crime among 
the freemen of Connecticut was looked to with fear and trembling by 
southern men. There every man felt that no slave could tread the soil 
of a State whose people had exhibited such an undying love of liberty : 
yet it was known that the President and all southern statesmen were 
anxious that the court should in some manner obtain a conviction of 
those friendless Africans ; and most northern politicians were timid and 
faultering. 

While the trial was progressing, the President sent an armed vessel to 
New Haven with orders to carry those Africans to Cuba soon as they 
might be delivered to the captain on board ; and at the same time he 
sent secret directions to the attorney and marshal of the district to hurry 
the prisoners on board the ship as rapidly as possible after the judge 
should decide against them,. without permitting their counsel or friends 
to take an appeal. 

In the meantime, Mr. Adams, watchful and vigilant, introduced reso- 
lutions in the House of Representatives, calling on the President to com- 
municate to Congress the process or authority on which these persons, 
charged with no crime, were held in prison. 

This calling in question the authority by which the Africans were 
imprisoned, appeared to alarm the advocates of slavery; and the demo- 
cratic party rejected the proposition ; but while the court and council 
were publicly arguing and examining the question whether these heathens 
had received from the Creator the right to life and liberty, the House 
of Representatives was engaged in the same investigation, and the news- 
papers were spreading the facts before the people. 

Some public men went farther, and asserting the well known and 

10 



146 MR. ADAMS VOLUNTEERS AS COUNSEL. 

acknowledged principle that slavery and slavedealing constitutes a per- 
petoal war between the enslavor and the enslaved, they vindicated the 
right of these Africans not only to rise and slay their captors whenever 
they had the power to do so ; but to hold those who surrendered, as 
prisoners, and the ship and cargo as their lawful prize: and that 
our Government had no right to inteffere between the Africans and 
Monte/, and Ruiz, who were legal prisoners, nor to take from the Afri- 
cans the ship or cargo, which were their " legal prize." 

These questions greatly annoyed the advocates of slavery, and the 
democratic party, on whom the slave interest relied for support. 

After a long and patient investigation, the court pronounced judgment in 
favor of the prisoners, notwithstanding the influence arrayed against them: 
Holding that by the laws of God and man these people had the right to live, 
and to that liberty which would enable them to cherish and protect life. 
The libellants were therefore constrained to permit the prisoners to be 
set at liberty, or appeal to the Supreme Court. They chose to appeal, 
and the case stood for hearing before that august tribunal. 

Mr. Adams had been educated for the bar, and for some years had 
practised both in State and United States courts ; but more than thirty 
years previously, he had retired from professional duties, devoting his 
whole time to the public service. He had taken a deep interest in this 
case, which had been well and ably argued before the district court by 
Governor Baldwin, of Connecticut : but when the appeal was entered, 
and the case was likely to come before the Supreme Court, it assumed a 
political as well as legal character. Marshall, who had so long presided 
in that tribunal, had departed ; and a majority of the judges were at 
that time comparatively inexperienced members of the democratic party; 
they were also slaveholders, and sympathized with those who were 
endeavoring to sustain the institution. 

The public men of the free States had confidence in Story and Thomp- 
son and M'Lean ; but Baldwin, though from a free State, had long been 
among the ablest and firmest supporters of slavery; and the other five were 
from the slave States, reared and educated in the love of oppression. 
Under these circumstances, there was a strong desire among the philan- 
thropists to have Mr. Adams appear as counsel for the Africans, not so 
much to argue the legal questions which arose in the case, as to avail 
themselves of his moral influence before the court and nation. 

And now, after the distinguished statesman had been more than a 
generation absent from the court, he reappeared as counsel for these 
ignorant barbarians, who could not speak our language, and with whom 
he could not converse, except through an interpreter. 



THE AFRICANS SET AT LIBERTY. M7 

The trial constituted a scene deeply interesting. The Legislative 
branch of Government had become entirely subservient to the slave 
power : the Executive had not only exhibited a desire to send these 
Africans back to a worse than heathen bondage ; but he had manifested 
an anxiety to do so without even permitting them to be heard before 
the court of dernier resort. 9 , 

The question was one which struck at the very existence of slavery: 
Were these degraded, ignorant, superstitious heathen entitled to life 
and liberty ? Had the Creator endowed them with these prerogatives ? 
These questions constituted the momentous issue to be tried : the Court, 
clad in judicial robes, the distinguished Attorney-General, and numerous 
members of the bar, Governor Baldwin acting as prisoners' counsel for 
the Africans, associated with Mr. Adams, who had long since left the 
Presidential chair, with the honors and blessings of a nation ; the vast 
audience, the solemn bearing and dignity of the court and officers, all 
conspired to render the proceeding one of high moral sublimity. 

During the whole argument there was perfect silence ; but when 
Mr. Adams, in his peroration, spoke of mankind as a race endowed with 
intelligence and hopes of immortality, and then referred to the slave 
trade and the slavedealer, painted his revolting crimes, and spoke of 
Ruiz, when entering the "dark valley," and earth receding from his 
view, "when this sin should sit heavy on his soul," the feelings of the 
audience nor of the court could be disguised. 

The judges, after due consideration, delivered their opinion, declaring 
in substance that these people were born free, and had never been legally 
held as slaves. That in rising upon the captain and crew, and taking 
possession of the ship, they committed no crime, violated no law, and 
were amenable to no punishment. 

The triumph was complete, so far as the Africans were concerned. 
They were liberated and sent back to their native land at the public 
expense : yet the court failed to meet the great point which constituted 
the real issue. They contented themselves with saying that these men 
•were not legally enslaved ; but did not say that the natural right to 
liberty was inalienable: that no human being could be legally enslaved : 
that any human enactment authorizing one man to enslave another must 
be void: that all enactments, agreements, .covenants, oaths or obligations 
professing to authorize or encourage the commission of crime, are not 
only void, but the parties become accessory to the crimes committed 
under such agreements, covenants or enactments. The court were not 
probably unmindful that these principles were recognized in private life, 
were confirmed by daily discussions in almost every municipal court ; 



148 CONSULTATION OF ANTI-SLAVERY MEMBERS. 

but the doctrine that governments were bound by them, had long been 
denied by both Ilouses of Congress and by the Executive ; and the 
court appeared unwilling to come in conflict with those departments 
upon a question so vital to the institution of slavery. 

The author of this work was now anxious to put forth some well 
denned Constitutional principle, on which all supporters of liberty could 
unite in a distinct 'political organization. 

Mr. Adams was cautious : indeed he was unwilling to enter into any 
combination that should have the appearance of a political party. 
Mr. Slade fully agreed with Mr. Adams, while Mr. Gates favored the 
proposition of the writer. 

These four members held frequent consultations, in order to devise 
some plan by which to regain the freedom of debate and the right of 
petition. 

At one of these consultations the author proposed to bring the sub- 
ject of slavery collaterally into debate, while other matters constituted 
the main subject of discussion. Mr. Adams, not apparently understand- 
ing the precise mode indicated, took occasion to urge the writer to try 
the experiment, saying, that as he had bestowed thought upon his plan, 
had been in the practice of law for many years, and would be better 
able to make the experiment than any other member who had not 
reflected maturely on the subject. To this proposition the author 
assented, and immediately commenced preparing for the experiment. 
1841 , On the 8th February, Mr. Thompson, of South Carolina, under 

leave presented a bill appropriating for the prosecution of the 
Florida war, one hundred thousand dollars, to be expended under 
direction of the Secretary of "War, for the benefit of the Seminole chiefs 
and warriors who should surrender, for the purpose of emigrating west. 
. It was in fact intended to bribe certain chiefs to go west in order to in- 
duce others to follow. 

The bill came up " in committee of the whole House on the state of 
tlie Union." This committee is known to no other legislative body. It 
was adopted during the Revolution, and all facts and arguments relating 
to the Union are strictly within the order of debate, thus giving the 
Speaker great latitude of remark. 

When the bill had been taken up, Mr. Thompson spoke in favor of its 
passage. 

The writer next obtained the floor and at once declared his inten- 
tion to develop the cause of the war, and the objects of its continuance. 
lie quoted the authority of Mr. Thompson, the Indian Agent, to show 



FREEDOM OF SPEECH ASSERTED. 149 

that the Seminoles refused to emigrate west lest the negroes who' 
had so long resided with them, should be seized and enslaved by the 
Creeks. That the object of constraining the Seminoles to emigrate was 
to enslave these people ; that to effect this piratical object the nation 
had been plunged into war, and the blood and treasure of the people 
were being sacrificed for the enslavement of free negroes 

Mr. Warren, of Georgia, called him to order, and the question was 
debated, and the chairman, Mr. Clifford, of Maine, a Democrat, declared 
the remarks to be strictly in order,* and requested the speaker to 
proceed. This gave him confidence, particularly as Mr. Adams rose 
from his seat, and walking into the area in front of the Clerk's desk, 
with apparent solicitude watched every movement of the advocates of 
slavery, who had by this time gathered around the speaker. 

The author proceeded to read documents sustaining his position ; but 
was soon called to order by Mr. Habersham, of Georgia, for irrelevancy ; 
but the chairman decided the remarks to be in order. 

Mr. Giddings explained that he had no intention of discussing the 
institution of slavery ; he did not expect to examine its merits or de- 
merits, not even to pronounce it wrong or right ; he only intended to 
show that it constituted the cause of the Florida war, while neither 
Congress nor the Federal Government held any authority under the Con- 
stitution to involve the people of the nation in a bloody war to support 
the institution. 

He then read reports of the Indian Agent to show that persons resid- 
ing with the Seminoles, though born free, had been seized and enslaved 
by desperate men from Columbus, Georgia; that a man named Douglass, 
who kept a gang of bloodhounds, attended by others, had invaded 
the Indian plantations, seized whole families of free colored persons and 
carried them to Georgia and sold them as slaves. , 

This course of debate appeared to arouse much southern feeling. 
Messrs. Cooper and Black, of Georgia, and Campbell, of South Carolina, 
at different times called " to order f but the chairman overruled their 
objections, and after some three hours mostly consumed by interruptions 
and incidental debate thereon, Mr. Giddings concluded his remarks. 

The only merit of the speech consisted in bringing out facts with 
which the public were not acquainted ; but which showed conclusively 

* During the entire debate Mr. Clifford maintained his coolness and impartiality, apparently 
anxious to administer the Parliamentary law without fear or favor of either party. His impartiality 
called forth some criticism from slaveholding members, of which Mr. Clifford complained. He 
insisted that the speech had been prepared for the purpose of bringing the subject of slavery 
to the view of the House and country without violating the " gag-rule." This was of course literally 
correct. 



150 SUBSTANTIALLY MAINTAINED. 

* 

that the war then going on in Florida, had boon waged for the purpose 
of n enslaving the colored exiles residing in that territory. 

Mr. Cooper, of Georgia, replied. He declared that be regarded the 
speech as altogether aimed at the institution of slavery. He spoke of 
abolition as>a "moral pestilence" to be condemned and scorned by all 
good meu ; referred to Messrs. Adams and Giddings as leaders in the 
abolition ranks, while they were encouraged and cheered on by the 
whig party ; and he particularly charged General Harrison, the Presi- 
dent elect, with encouraging abolitionists, and thus involving the whig 
party of Georgia in the odium of supporting the right of all men to 
liberty. He alluded to the case of a vessel from Maine that had carried 
a slave from Georgia, when the Chair called him to order. 

Mr. Black, of Georgia, insisted that Mr. Giddings had made an anti- 
slavery speech, and Mr. Cooper ought to be allowed to reply. Mr. 
Adams also interposed, saying the gentleman had made a pointed allusion 
to him, and he hoped to enjoy the privilege of replying. Mr. "Wise, of 
Virginia, sustained Mr. Black, and on an appeal the House sustained 
him, and Mr. Cooper proceeded to arraign the Governor and authorities 
of Maine, as abolitionists. 
.,.„., Mr. Black, of Georgia, next obtained the floor. He at once 

1S41.J ° ' 

arraigned Ohio for her cruelty to the colored people, declaring 
that State stood preeminent for her wickedness in that respect. He was 
called to order, decided to be out of order, but permitted by vote of the 
House to proceed out of order. He was nervously excited ; declared 
that he intended to be personally offensive to Mr. Giddings, and holding 
a copy of the Bible in- his hand, read, " Thou hypocrite, first cast the 
beam out of thine own eye," as he pointed his finger directly at the 
object of his wrath. He assured the House that if the member from 

" Ohio (Mr. Giddings) would come to Georgia he should be hanged. 

Mr. Downing, who held a seat merely as a delegate from the Terri- 

• tory of Florida, next addressed the House, and even outrivalled Mr. 
Black in vulgar assaults upon Mr. Giddings. Mr. Thompson, of South 
Carolina, was more refined in language and manner of attack, declaring 
that the whig party were not responsible for the course pursued by " the 
very obscurest of the obscure individuals belonging to that party." 

Peeling the insult of Mr. Thompson perhaps too keenly, Mr. Giddings 
replied that every statesman or member of Congress would select the 
position which he chose to occupy before the people. History and those 
who should come after us would judge that point ; but he would inform 
the gentleman from South Carolina, that he did not possess the power 
to designate the position which other members should All in the public 



EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS DEBATE. 151 

% 

mind, although he must choose his own. Nor would the speaker (Mr. 
Giddings) say what niche in the Temple of Fame Mr. Thompson would 
occupy. He said that he well understood the insult offered him by the 
gentleman from South Carolina ; but he could not resent it in the man- 
ner common among southern gentlemen, as the people of the free States 
would not permit their public servants to practice that barbarous mode 
of settling difficulties ; that if permitted by the voice of his constituents, 
his own conscience would not permit him to engage in that mode of 
settling difficulties. But he would rather say to the gentleman, in the 
language of a military veteran, who, after meeting the enemy in a hun- 
dred battles, happened to offend a young officer, who spat in his face, 
expecting to call out a challenge, but the aged warrior, taking his hand- 
kerchief from his pocket, coolly wiped the spittle from his face, saying, 
" Could I as easily wipe the stain of your blood from my soul you should 
not live an how." Instantly Mr. Alford, of Georgia, sprang from his 
seat, and uttering profane threats, rushed towards Mr. Giddings with 
apparently hostile intention. A sensation was manifested throughout 
the hall ; members rose and rushed towards the parties ; but when Mr. 
Alford arrived within a few feet of the object of his wrath, Governor 
Briggs, of Massachusetts, stopped him and persuaded him to return to 
his seat. 

Mr. Thompson, in reply, assured the House and the country 
that he spoke the feelings of both northern and southern Whigs 
when he declared that the member from Ohio was " the very obscurest of 
the obscure members of the whig party." 

To Mr. Downing no reply could be made consistent with self-respect ; 
but he had much business before the Committee on Claims, of which 
Mr. Giddings was then chairman, and when that gentleman next 
approached him with the ordinary salutation of friends, Mr. Giddings 
refused to give him his hand, assuring him that he was at liberty to* 
address him on official business, but on no other pretence, an injunction 
which Mr. Downing carefully observed. 

But notwithstanding these unpleasant incidents, Mr. Giddings suc- 
ceeded in giving to the country an explanation of the causes of the 
Florida war. The speech was a little more than a compilation of public 
documents on that subject, but it was printed in pamphlet form and was 
widely circulated among the people. 

General Harrison, the President elect, arrived in Washington on the 
day of this debate, and on hearing that it had occurred, he expressed 
great dissatisfaction, and declared that he would relieve the whig party 
of all odium brought upon it by Mr. Giddings' efforts in favor of free 



152 PKESIDENT HAERISON DEVOTED TO SLAVEEY. 

f 

discussion, and when the author on the following day called to pay him 
the customary respect, the President elect gave such evidence of being 
offended that Mr. Giddings never called on him afterwards, although 
they were both from the same State, had served together in the war 
of 1812, and Mr. Giddings had exerted such influence as he possessed, 
and expended much money, to secure the election of the President. 
But Mr. Thompson, who had publicly insulted Mr. Giddings for main- 
taining the freedom of speech, was rewarded with a mission to Mexico, 
although no vote in South Carolina had been given in favor of General 
Harrison's election. 

True to the principles in which he had been educated, President Har- 
rison prepared a paragraph for his inaugural address which was highly 
offensive to all who advocated the right of petition or the freedom of 
debate. 

Mr. Clay, who was the leader of the whig party, was consulted upon 
the inaugural, and took exceptions to the paragraph alluded to. The 
President requested Mr. Clay to alter it as he thought best. Mr. Clay 
complied, and as that Senator often observed, made it so doubtful whe- 
ther it meant anything or nothing, that no one could take offence on 
reading it. 

is4i These details present some of the difficulties and embarrass- 

ments which were met by the advocates of liberty. Messrs. 
Adams, Slade, Gates and Giddings now found that the President whom 
they assisted to elect, intended to wield the executive power and influ- 
ence in favor of suppressing the right of petition and the freedom of 
debate, and that the same influence was to be exerted against the men 
who advocated those rights. They saw and felt that persecution 
awaited them. 

The Supreme Court, however, made a decision which in some respects 
encouraged the advocates of liberty. 

By the constitution of Mississippi, slaves from other States were 
excluded from her markets. But a slavedealer transported a number of 
slaves to Jackson and sold them on a credit, taking in payment bills 
falling due at a subsequent day. Suit was brought on these bills, and 
two questions were presented for the consideration of the court : 

First, Does the. constitution of Mississippi, without any law to give it 
effect, render the contract void ? And secondly, Can a State exclude 
properly of any kind from sale within its territory ? Thus raising upon 
the records the distinct question whether slaves were property and there- 
fore the subject of commerce. 

These questions being important were fully argued by learned counsel, 



JUDGE MCLEAN SUPPORTS THE CONSTITUTION. 153 

and submitted to the court for decision. And Judge McLean met them 
promptly, fully, and ably ; showing by the most compact argument that 
whatever individual States may enact, either by constitution or by law, 
they could not encroach upon the powers of Congress, to regulate com- 
merce between the States : nor could they transform persons into property. 
Taking the Federal Constitution for his guide, he showed that slaves 
were referred to as "persons" and not as property in each of the four 
iustances in which they are spoken of in that instrument. He then 
declared that Congress could not exclude persons from going from one 
State to another. That as persons they were subject to State laws : 
and the Legislatures of New York or Massachusetts may exclude the 
sale of slaves or persons in those States ; but could not prohibit the 
importation of property, which alone can be the subject of commerce, and 
under the jurisdiction of Congress. But the other judges endeavored to 
avoid the issue made upon the record by basing their decision on other 
points, evidently unwilling to meet the reasoning of the learned judge 
who manifested the boldness to examine a question so important to the 
existence of slavery. 



154 TYLER ASSUMES EXECUTIVE DUTIES. 



CHAPTER IX. 



DISBANDMENT OF THE WHIG fARTY. 



1811 A special session of the twenty-seventh Congress was con- 

vened by proclamation of the acting President John Tyler, on the 
31st May. General Harrison had departed this life after enjoying the 
honors of President but one short month, and the Executive duties devolved 
upon a man who had never manifested any particular sympathy with the 
whig party. Indeed he had always opposed some of their leading 
political tenets. He was a Virginian, entertaining all the characteristic 
errors and egotism which at that time gave to the Old Dominion its 
principal importance. He was of course a slaveholder, and from him 
the advocates of freedom expected no particular favor. There was a 
Whig majority of more than forty members in the House of Representa- 
tives, and seven in the Senate, and no party had ever come into power 
with such opportunities to reform the Government and perpetuate its 
own ascendency : but the leading members of that organization had 
departed from the faith of their fathers, who held that human governments 
were based on human rights.* 

The author was a Whig, an earnest supporter of the whig party and 
whig policy ; but is constrained to say that he was not aware that a 
member of that or of the democratic party at that time entertained any 
idea of a " higher law," applicable to human governments, than the 
Constitution of the United States, which, as then construed by both 
parties, recognized no rights in mankind lying behind and above human 
authority. 

The party had recognized no primal truth, no fundamental doctrine 
on which its members united before election, by which the Executive 
and Congress were to be guided when in power ; and now being in 
power, and the offices distributed, they could agree upon no doctrine ; 
could unite upon no policy, and before the close of the first session of 
Congress, they separated into factions, the party was substantially 
broken up, and the sceptre of power had departed from them. 

* The majority in the Senate is stated upon the authority of Col. Benton, vide his " Thirty 
Years" (vol. ii., page 215). In the House, John White had a majority of 31 votes for Speaker, 
while eight southern Whigs voted for Mr. Wise, who was an ardent Whig, and Messrs. Adams', 
Slade, Gates and Giddiugs voted for Mr. Lawrence, of Pennsylvania. 



PLAN FOR DECEIVING THE PEOPLE. 155 

In the Senate Mr. Buchanan presented the memorial of the Society 
of Friends in Pennsylvania, praying the abolition of slavery and the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia, and in the Territories of the 
United States. Mr. King, of Alabama, stated the practice of the 
Senate ; saying it was the duty of -the presiding officer, when petitions 
of this character were presented, to consider the question of reception as 
raised, and then await the motion of some Senator to lay the resolution 
on the table, which left the petition in the hands of the Senator present- 
ing it. 

This was the formula assumed by the Senate, in order to satisfy the 
people by leaving then- petitions in the hands of the Senator who pre- 
sented them : yet this fraud was openly advocated as satisfactory to an 
intelligent nation ; for Mr. Buchanan stated that he was aware that 
such was the practice, and he thought much good had resulted from it, 
and if followed up, there could be no doubt that the most salutary 
results would follow. Only one other petition of that kind was pre- 
sented in the Senate during the extra session.* 

lstti ^ 00n as tlie H° use was P ro P«'ly organized, Mr. Wise moved 

to adopt the rules of the last Congress. To which Mr. Adams 
proposed an amendment, excepting the 21st or gag-rule : and this 
amendment was adopted. Mr. Ingersol, of Pennsylvania, moved a 
reconsideration of this vote, and on that motion a long and interesting 
debate arose. 

Mr. Adams, in maintaining the right of petition, declared it an error 
to say the people of the free States had nothing to do with slavery. 
That in case of a servile insurrection, they would be called on to inter- 
fere with it. 

He also referred to the fact that the 21st rule was a democratic 
measure, to which the Whigs, as a party, had been opposed, and he was 
now surprised to find so many Whig members sustaining the measure 
which they had formerly repudiated. 

Mr. Ingersol, of Pennsylvania, replied to the argument of Mr. Adams. 
He warned the South of the approaching danger to their institutions ; 
and advised them to combine and move in solid phalanx in support of 
southern interests ; and declared that he was surprised and horrified at 
the doctrine advanced by Mr. Adams, saying that he had understood 

* Eighteen years subsequently, Mr. Buchanan, while President, prompted by the same kind feel- 
ings towards the slaveholding interest, permitted the Governor of South Carolina to take possession 
of the Arsenal situated at Charleston, containing immense quantities of arms and ammunition; 
permitted most of -the arms and ammunition in northern arsenals to be carried South ; and southern 
arsenals to be seized, preparatory to the great rebellion. In all of which he was equally sincere and 
honest, believing it the only mode of saving the, Union. 



156 POWER TO ABOLISH SLAVERY. 

that gentleman to say that in case of a servile insurrection breaking out 
in the South, there would be an end of the Constitution ; and turning to 
Mr. Adams, said he would be glad to know whether he correctly under- 
stood him. 

Mr. Adams said, that he had stated that in case of servile war, and 
the people of the free States were called on by the President to suppress 
it, they would have the perfect right to dictate the terms on which peace 
should be restored : if the free portion of the Union were called upon to 
expend their blood and treasure to support that institution which had 
the curse and displeasure of the Almighty upon it, the subject itself 
would come within the constitutional power of Congress, and there 
would be no such objection as that Congress had not the right to inter- 
fere : but the right would be acknowledged, and the duty admitted. 
And when members of Congress should take the power into their hands, 
they would and ought to dispose of the institution according to the 
dictates of justice. 

Mr. Ingcrsol repeated his own feelings of horror at the contemplation 
of a servile insurrection ; declared that he was ready to march at any 
moment to assist his southern brethren in such case, but did not attempt 
to answer the constitutional argument of Mr. Adams. 

Mr. Ingersol declared there were more than 2,000 abolition societies 
in the free States. Said that foreign books were circulated in this 
country to get up an abolition feeling. All these things were a con- 
spiracy to destroy the institutions of the South, and he clearly indicated 
that no abolitionist ought to be permitted to hold office. 

Mr. Wise appeared dissatisfied with the Speaker ; spoke of his 
arrangement of the several committees, and referring to that on claims, 
said the chairman (Mr. Giddings, of Ohio) would never report a bill to 
pay a master for the loss of his slave if killed in the public service. Mem- 
bers seeing Mr. Giddings present, called on Mr. Wise to put his question 
to the chairman of that committee. " Ask him " — "Ask him," resounded 
from various parts of the hall. " I will " (said Mr. Wise) ; and turn- 
ing to Mr. Giddings, said, " I will ask the chairman if he would report 
a bill to pay a master for the loss of a slave killed in the public 
service ?" 

That gentleman replied : " I cannot say what the committee rnigh 
do ; but I should myself follow the precedents which are uniform from 
the commencement of the Government." 

Mr. Wise was dissatisfied : members smiled at his embarrassment. 
He declared it the first time that he had known the chairman of the 
Committee on Claims to dodge a question : but finally said that he was 



PRESIDENT TYLER FOR THE GAG-RULE. 157 

aware that the precedents were against such payment, but the precedents 
were wrong; and he was anxious to correct the error. He next assailed 
the Speaker for appointing Mr. Adams Chairman of the Committee on 
" Foreign Affairs." * 

In the course of this speech, Mr. Wise gave the first public notice 
that Mr. Tyler meant to be a candidate for reelection : and that inten- 
tion was yet more distinctly avowed by Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts. 

At this point, the difficulties which finally separated Mr. Tyler , 1841 
from the great body of those who elected him began to be 
developed. 

Hon. William Cost Johnson, of Maryland, a slaveholding Whig, in 
order to give weight and influence to his own argument, in favor of the 
21st rule, said he had seen a letter from the President, Mr. Tyler, 
recommending its support by members of the House. 

Mr. Adams, noticing this arrogant interference with legislative duties 
by the President, at once called for the reading of the letter. Mr. John- 
son replied that such was the opinion of Mr. Tyler as an individual, and 
not expressed in any official correspondence ; but the incident brought 
out the fact that the President and Cabinet were in favor of the policy 
of suppressing debate and the right of petition on the subject of slavery. 

A few Whigs adhered to the President, while far the greater portion 
were opposed to him ; but at the close of the extra session, the disband- 
ment of the party had become apparent to the public. 

* At that time the writer supposed and still believes it to have been the intention of Mr. Clay, if 
placed in power, to use his influence to restore the freedom of debate and the right of petition, and 
leave the institution of slavery with the States. Such was undoubtedly the intention of Speaker 
White in the appointment of Mr. Adams and Mr. Giddings to be chairmen of committees, second 
in importance only to that of " Ways and Means." 



158 PETITIONS PRESENTED BY ME. ADAMS. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE TRIAL OF HON. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

i84ii ^ HE contest u P on tne "S^ °*" P 6 ^^ 011 an d the freedom of 

debate evidently increased ; slaveholding members became irrita- 
ble, and northern members who sympathized with them appeared vexed 
and discontented. Personal feeling began to take the place of political 
sympathy ; the social relations of members were broken up, and the 
common civilities of life were no longer observed by a portion of southern 
members. Personal bitterness was manifested towards the writer more 
than towards any. other member. There was not, probably, a dozen 
slaveholding members who at that period recognized him while passing 
on the street, or when meeting him in the Hall of Representatives. 
These attempts at social ostracism extended in a degree to Messrs. Slade 
and Gates, who were also regarded as obnoxious to southern members ; 
but the high, moral, and social position of Mr. Adams placed him above 
those puerile attempts to affect the official position of members. 

Mr. Adams stood alone in his practice of presenting each petition 
separately, and asking specific action thereon. One of these from 
Massachusetts, prayed that colored men may be recognized as citizens 
of the United States, and permitted to hold lands in our Territories. 

Another invoked Congress to guarantee to each State of the Union a 
republican form of government. Another prayed to be relieved from tak- 
ing up arms in defence of a government which sustained slavery. Another 
prayed relief from all support of slavery and of the slave trade. Another 
prayed Congress to take measures to secure colored citizens from being 
enslaved while travelling in our southern States. Another setting forth 
that efforts were making to involve the people of the United States in a 
war with England, in order to compel her officers to aid our slave mer- 
chants in carrying native Americans to market, declared that such a 
war would exceed in guilt that which England waged against us in 1776, 
in the same degree that slavery exceeds the political dependence in which 
our fathers were holdcn by the British Government, and the memorial- 
ists prayed to be exempt from serving in such a war. 

These petitions did not come within the 21st rule ; they called forth 
debate which at times became excited. On every hand Mr. Adams was 
assailed, and each petition appeared to call forth the expression of more 
bitter hostility. 



ME. ADAMS ASSERTS THE EIGHT OF PETITION. 159 

That gentleman had served as a member of the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs during the twenty-sixth Congress, while his colleague, 
Mr. dishing, served as chairman. Now he was placed at the head of 
the committee, and Mr. Cushing was a junior member. 

On the 21st January, he presented the petition, as he stated, n 
of a respectable portion of the citizens of Georgia, setting forth 
that while Mr. Adams possessed all the qualities of a statesman in an 
eminent degree, they regarded him a monomaniac, and prayed that he 
be removed from the position of chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs. Having presented the petition, he declared his desire to defend 
himself against the charge of being a monomaniac. 

Mr. Marshall, of Kentucky, moved that Mr. Adams have leave to 
defend himself, and show that he was not a monomaniac. This motion 
was debated, and it was soon manifest that the slaveholders were un- 
willing to have him address the House. They exhibited greater personal 
hostility towards him than at any former time, and the motion was finally 
laid on the table. 

The next morning, Mr. Adams asserted his right as a question of 
privilege, to defend himself against the charge brought against him. 
This proposition called out an expression of still greater personal hos- 
tility ; but the Speaker decided that it was a question of privilege. 

At this point Mr. Warren, of Georgia, moved a reconsideration of 
the motion laying the subject on the table, which was sustained after 
many objections, and Mr. Adams now obtained legitimate possession of 
the floor for the purpose of defending himself. But he had no sooner 
commenced his remarks, than calls to order were heard from all parts of 
the hall. The Speaker was cool and firm ; he explained the question, 
showed with great perspicuity the parliamentary rule. Mr. Adams also 
bore himself with becoming dignity. He proceeded to expose the policy 
of southern members. 

The slaveholders and northern Democrats became greatly excited. 
Mr. Adams at no time uttered half a dozen sentences without being 
vociferously called to order. The disorder increased ; the voice of Mr. 
Adams was often drowned amid exclamations, epithets, and denun- 
ciations. More vindictive feeling was exhibited than on any former 
occasion, and while this storm of passion was raging a motion was made 
and carried to lay the subject on the table. 

Mr. Adams being in possession of the floor, continued to present 
petitions. One after another were laid upon the table on motion of some 
slaveholder. Throughout the hall a deep feeling of hostility towards the 
distinguished statesman was manifested. The day was far spent ; from 



1G0 CELEBRATED PETITION FROM 1IAVEKHILL. 

the reading of the journal in the morning the excitement had increased ; 
yet the aged patriot remained upon his feet, deliberately continuing in 
the discharge of his duty, with no apparent intention of retiring from the 
conflict. Near him were Messrs. Slade, Gates, and Giddings, deeply 
interested in what was passing ; while Wise, and Gilmer, and Holmes, and 
Cooper, and Saunders, and other slaveholding members, were on either 
hand, watching his words and actions with apparently intense interest. 

At length he took from the file of papers before him one which he 
opened and appeared to examine with more than usual interest ; then 
turning to the Speaker, he said, " I hold in my hand the memorial of 
Benjamin Emerson and forty-five other citizens of Haverhill, in the 
State of Massachusetts, praying Congress to adopt immediate measures 
for the peaceful dissolution of the Union of these States." As these 
words were uttered an obvious sensation ran through the hall ; but he 
continued : " First, Because no union can be agreeable or permanent 
which docs not present prospects of reciprocal benefits. Second, Be- 
cause a vast proportion of the resources of one section of the Union is 
annually drained to sustain the views and course of another. Third, 
Because, judging from the history of past nations, if the present course 
be persisted in it will overwhelm the nation in utter destruction." 

A number of slaveholding members now sprang to their feet, each 
demanding leave to speak. The presiding officer called to order, declar- 
ing the gentleman from Massachusetts was in possession of the floor ; and 
when order was again restored Mr. Adams continued, saying, " I move 
the reference of this petition to a select committee of nine members, with 
instructions to report an answer to the petitioners, showing the reasons 
why the prayer of their petition cannot be granted ?" 

Vociferous calls for the floor were now heard from all parts of the 
hall. Mr. Hopkins, of Yirginia, was first recognized ; but when order 
was restored, and the attention of all was directed towards him, expect- 
ing some important proposition commensurate with the occasion, he 
merely inquired of the Speaker if it would be in order to bum the peti- 
tion in the presence of the House ? Other inquiries were propounded by 
different members, but such was the disorder that the Speaker paid no 
attention to any of them. 

Mr. Wise inquired if a resolution to censure the member presenting 
the petition would be in order ? In response to this, Mr. Adams, in his 
6cat, expressed his own gratification. 

A motion to adjourn was made. Mr. Adams hoped the House would 
not adjourn. " If," said he, " a vote of censure is to be passed, it may 
as well be done to-day." 



MR. ADAMS ARRAIGNED. 161 

At length Mr. Gilmer, of Virginia, offered a resolution declaring, 
" That in presenting to the consideration of the House a petition for the 
involution of the Union, the member from Massachusetts (Mr. Adams) 
justly incurred the censure of this House." 

A question was raised as to the reception of the resolution, when Mr- 
Adams expressed his desire that it might be received and debated, and 
that he would have an opportunity of defending himself ; but the House 
adjourned without further action.* 

Public notice was given that a meeting of members from the slave 

ttes woold be held that evening in the room of the "Committee on 
Foreign Affairs," to make proper arrangements for the trial, winch was 
to proceed on the following d 

Most of the members showed no anxiety to leave the hall. Many 
remained, and gathered into small coteries, earnestly engaged in conver- 
sation upon the extraordinary events of the day. Many appeared 
deeplj nt, and with knitted brows, compressed lips, and clinched 

fists, uttered imprecations against all "agitators" and abolitionists; 
others exultingly declared Mr. Adams to be in the power of the demo- 
cratic party, as all southern Whigs would act with them, and they de- 
clared it n> . to make an example of him. 

An effort was made to get a meeting of northern members who were 
willing to stand by and Mr. Adams in raeeti:.<r the persecutions 

and dangers which -urruunded him ; but to these efforts most northern 
Whigs replied, " that it would look like a Beetiona] quarrel." But a few 
members friendly to Mr. Adams convened that evening at the room of 
the author. M - le and Young, of Vermont ; Calhoun, of Mas- 

sachusetts ; Henry. Lawrence and Simonton, of Pennsylvania • Gates 
and Chittenden, of Xew York, and Giddings, of Ohio, were present. 
Besides these, Rev. Joshua Leavitt, of Boston, and Theodore Weld of 
New Jersey, were also present ; although they were not members, they 
were well known as able and zealous advocates of freedom and friends 
of Mr. Adams. These two gentlemen were appointed a committee to 
wait on Mr. Adams and inform him that they and the members convened 
tendered him any assistance in their power. 

They immediately repaired to the residence of Mr. Adams, though the 
hour was late. They found him in his parlor, and without delay stated 
the object of their visit. The aged statesman listened attentively, but 

• The House had for years adopted rales to suppress debate, and had used parliamentary and 
unparliamentary means to prevent Mr. Adams' from debating the subject of slavery, and he now 
thought if permitted to debate this resolution he would have ample scop- for arraigning the instifc*. 
Hon ; that, however, wag a result which southern men had no*. looked to. 

11 



162 ASSISTANCE TENDERED HIM. 

for a time was unable to reply, laboring under great apparent feeling. 
At length he stated that the voice of friendship was so unusual to his 
ears, that he could not express Lis gratitude ; that he would feel thank- 
ful if they would examine certain points to be found in the authors of 
which he gave them a list, and have the books placed on his desk at the 
hour of meeting the next day, and then dismissed them, and turned his 
own thoughts to a preparation for the contest. 

Prompt at the call, nearly all the slaveholding members met at the 
place appointed that evening- to consult on the best mode of conducting 
the debate upon the resolution of Mr. Gilmer. That gentleman was a 
member of the democratic party, and it was feared that this circumstance 
would injure the moral effect of the proceeding, as it might be said that 
it constituted a partisan persecution rather than a patriotic effort to 
" save the Union." It was therefore proposed that some slaveholding 
Whig should appear as prosecutor ; and Hon. Thomas F. Marshall was 
nominated and appointed to that duty. He was comparatively a young 
man, a nephew of the late John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United 
States Supreme Court. He seemed to have inherited the genius and 
ability of his ancestors, had already distinguished himself in the Legis. 
lature of his own State, and had now come to Congress under more 
favorable auspices than any other member west of the Alleghany Moun- 
tains. He was anxious to distinguish himself upon the new theatre on 
which he had but just entered. 

On the following morning, long before the hour for the House to con- 
vene, the spacious galleries were filled to their utmost capacity, and all 
approaches to the hall were crowded with anxious men and women, en- 
deavoring to get where they could hear the proceedings. Foreign minis- 
ters, "attaches" and privileged persons filled the lobbies and the outer 
space within the hall and outside the bar. 

The Speaker promptly called the House to order as the clock told the 
hour of twelve, and soon as the journal had been read, Mr. Marshall 
proposed a substitute for the resolution offered by Mr. Gilmer on the 
previous day. The substitute was in the following language : 

" Whereas the Federal Constitution is a permanent form of govern- 
ment and a perpetual obligation until altered or amended in the mode 
pointed out in that instrument, and the members of this House deriving 
their political character and powers from the same, are sworn to support 
it ; and a dissolution of the Union necessarily implies the destruction of 
that instrument, the overthrow of the American Republic, and of our 
national existence : A proposition to the Representatives of the people 
to dissolve the organic law framed by their constituents, and to support 



MAPwSHALl/s RESOLUTIONS. 163 

which they are commanded to be sworn before they can enter upon the 
execution of the political powers created by it, and intrusted to them, is 
a high breach of privilege, a contempt offered to this House, a direct 
proposition to the Legislature and each member of it to commit per- 
jury, and involves necessarily in its execution and its consequence, the 
destruction of our country and the crime of high treason. 

" Resolved, therefore, That the Hon. John Quincy Adams, a member 
from Massachusetts, in presenting for the consideration of the House of 
Representatives of the United States a petition praying the dissolution 
of the Union, has offered the deepest indignity to the House of which 
he is a member, an insult to the people of the United States of which 
that House is the organ, and will, if this outrage be permitted to pass 
unrebuked and unpunished have disgraced the country through their Re- 
presentatives in the eyes of the whole world. 

" Resolved, further, That the aforesaid John Quincy Adams, for this 
insult, the first of the kind ever offered to the Government, and for the 
wound which he has permitted to be aimed through his instrumentality 
at the Constitution and existence of the country, the peace, security and 
liberty of the people of these States, might well be held to merit expul- 
sion from the national councils, and the House deem it an act of grace 
and mercy when they only inflict upon him their severest censure for 
conduct so unworthy of his past relations to the state and his present 
position. This they hereby do for the maintenance of their own purity 
and dignity : for the act they turn him over to his own conscience and 
the indignation of all true American citizens." 

The resolutions having been read, Mr. Marshall proceeded to sustain 
them by a speech characterized by that eloquence and force of argument 
for which he was distinguished. The audience was attentive, and he pro- 
ceeded to apply the law to the facts with such force that he appeared to 
leave but little chance of escape to him who by a persistent discharge of 
duty had rendered himself obnoxious to the slave power. Southern 
members appeared encouraged and confirmed in their determination to 
disgrace this aged advocate of freedom, while his northern friends were 
depressed in a corresponding degree ; indeed, when they reflected upon 
the spirit manifested by the entire democratic party North and South, 
together with the slaveholding portion of the whig party, there appeared 
but slight expectations of defeating these efforts to prostrate his in- 
fluence. 

Mr. Adams was expected to state the grounds of his own vindication 
before any friend could venture to speak in his defence ; accordingly, 
when Marshall closed, he rose to address the House, and as that gen- 



164 ME. ADAMS'S BASIS OF DEFENCE. 

tlcman had charged him with high treason, and represented hirn as 
seeking to overthrow the Government, it was supposed he would now 
reply with that overwhelming severity for which he was distinguished ; 
but he exhibited no such desire. When the Speaker announced that he 
was in possession of the floor, all eyes were instantly upon him. His 
appearance was venerable ; he was dignified in his bearing. He looked 
around upon his peers, who sat before him as judges, with a countenance 
beaming with kindness : he had long served his country, had filled the 
highest office on earth with honor to himself and friends ; and now, at 
the age of seventy-five years, he stood arraigned on a charge of treason 
to that country to which he had so long devoted his labors, to that peo- 
ple whose rights he was seeking to maintain. 

At length,- turning to the Speaker, he said : " It is no part of my 
intention to reply to the gentleman from Kentucky at this time. I pre- 
fer to wait until I learn whether the House will retain these resolutions 
for discussion. I call for the reading of the first paragraph in the 
Declaration of Independence." The Clerk at once sought the bock con- 
taining it, and while seeking, Mr. Adams repeated, " the first paragraph 
in the Declaration of Independence? 

The Clerk then read the introductory portion of the Declaration, and 
hesitatingly turned his eyes towards Mr. Adams, as if to inquire whether 
he should read further. " Read on, read on ! down to the right and the 
duty," said the aged patriot ; and the Clerk, in a clear and distinct 
voice, read that portion which declares the natural rights of mankind 
and asserts that governments are instituted to support those rights ; and 
with peculiar emphasis he read the sentence which declares, " that when • 
ever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the 
right and the duty of the people to alter or abolish it and reorganize its' 
powers in such form as to them shall appear most likely to secure their inter- 
est and happiness? 

Mr. Adams then proceeded to state that our Government had become 
destructive to the lives and liberties of a portion of the people. That those 
powers granted to secure, had been prostituted to destroy life and liberty: 
the powers ordained to the support of freedom had been prostituted to the 
maintenance of slavery. That the people had the right to reform these 
abuses, and bring the Government back to the performance of those 
duties for which it was instituted. " They have (said he) the right to 
ask Congress in respectful language to do anything which they in good 
faith believe that body ought to perform : and it is the duty of Congress 
to return respectful answers to such petitions, showing the reason why 
their prayers cannot be granted." 



0BJECT8 OF THE SLAVE POWEB DEFINED. 165 

He declared that the people were oppressed by the denial of the right 
of petition and the suppression of debate, and " if this discussion is\o 
proceed (said he) I shall ask for time to prepare my defence, for I shall 
show that that portion of the country from which these gentlemen 
(Messrs. Gilmer and Marshall) come are endeavoring to destroy the 
right of < Ilabeas Corpus ' and of trial by jury. I wish (said he) to look 
into the controversy between Xew York and Virginia, between Geo™ 
and Maine, and show there is a persistent intention to destroy the rights 
of the free States and to force slavery upon them." 

II, further declared his intention to show that a systematic effort was 
makmg to force the country into a war with England in order to main- 
tain the African slave trade. He asserted that for the restoration of the 
slave trade, our minister at London had put forth the most false doc- 
trines as constituting the law of nations.* 

And, said he, if our righto are thus to be taken away by this coalition 
between southern slaveholders and northern democracy, it is time the peo- 
ple should send their petitions here, and arouse the nation to protect our 
constitutional rights. 

As Mr. Adams resumed his seat, Mr. Everett, of Vermont moved a 
postponement of the further consideration for two weeks, to enable Mr 
A, lams to prepare his defence, and that the resolutions of Mr. Marshall 
be printed. 

Mr. Wise inquired if this motion was not debatable. The Speaker 
responded in the affirmative, and Mr. Wi„ commenced a speech in favor 
of adopting the resolutions occupying the remainder of that day and 
part of the day following. 

This gentleman had long exhibited a personal hostility towards Mr 
Adams, and he now appeared to think the present a most favorable or> 
portunity to gratify his animosity. He charged Mr. Adams with con- 
spiring with British abolitionists to destroy the Union ; he read extracts 
from newspapers to show that British philanthropists were conspiring 
with those of the United States to bring about a war between the two 

* These prophecies were all literally fulfilled in a much shorter nerion- nf ti™ m. ™ . , 
his friend then expected. The right of petition and freedom oJdehlt „ k *' ^^ °' 

an American vessel sailing under American color, #«..?■ ?f h CrW3eTS t0 V1S,t 

.,. , j American colors to ascertain whether she was emras-ed in tho 

African slave trade or not; and by this means that commerce was for some years pfaSalW re 
stored, and slaves were openly imported into our southern States. And a.thoughThe Z £££ 
the slave t,ade to be piracy had been thirty yeM in force, no man had been execu ed un e H 
imtil the Repubhcans came into power in 1S61, when Captain Gordon was hanged in New Yo I 



106 MR. ADAMS REPLIES TO MARSHALL. 

, governments in order to destroy slavery : and as if lie thought it a 
crime, declared that Mr. Adams had said that in case of a slave insur- 
rection, if the Federal Government was called on to suppress it, the 
Executive might, if necessary to restore peace, emancipate the staves? To 
this remark Mr. Adams, retaining his seat, replied with unusual emphasis, 
" Yes, si/-."* He spoke of the world's anti-slavery convention held in 
Europe, and said that Governor Gilmer had received the proceedings of 
that convention under the frank of a member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives (Hon. Seth M. Gates). He asserted that these things mani- 
fested a design to break down slavery, and he exhorted the democratic party 
to come up to the contest and put down abolition, or slavery would be 
destroyed, and the great democratic 'principle of eyudily among men would 
become obsolete. 

Mr. Adams said he would speak at that time only upon the propriety 
of retaining the resolution for debate ; and he replied to Mr. Wise with 
marked severity, saying he understood that gentleman ; that he had come 
to that hall two or three years previously with his hands dripping with 
human gore ; a blotch of human blood was upon his face. Mr. Wise 
appeared incapable of forbearance under this allusion to the duel in which 
Mr. Cilley of Maine fell, in which Wise had acted as second, and he inter- 
rupted Mr. Adams several times. But the aged statesman occupied little 
time in answering Mr. Wise, as he evidently felt that Mr. Marshall's address 
was more important. He spoke of that gentleman with great kindness, 
referred to the friendship which had existed between himself and the ances. 
tor of Mr. Marshall, the late Chief Justice, declaring that when he heard 
of the election of the gentleman from Kentucky he anticipated a renewal 
of that ancient friendship. He spoke of Marshall as having already 
won an enviable fame in his own State Legislature by his earnest sup- 
port of human freedom, and then began to array that gentleman's errors 
before the audience ; said he had charged him with " high treason," in 
the preamble of the resolution, and in his speech. " Now," said he, 
" thank God the Constitution of the United States has denned high 
treason, and it was not left for the gentleman of Kentucky, nor for his 
-puny mind, to define that crime, which consists solely iu levying war 
against the United States, or lending aid and comfort to their enemies. 

* Eighteen years after this speech, Mr. Wise was acting Governor of Virginia, when the memor- 
able insurrection under John Brown broke out, carrying consternation and dismay throughout the 
Old Dominion. Governor Wise carefully avoided calling on the President for assistance, yet as- 
sailed the President for not sending the troops of the United States to assist Virginia in suppressing 
rebellion. The President, Mr. Buchanan, very correctly denied that he could do so until called 
upon officially. Still Mr. Wiso would not trust a northern democratic President, lest he might 
emancipate the slaves instead of slaying them. 



A SCENE OF HIGH MOKAL SUBLIMITY. 167 

I, (said he), have presented a respectful petition from my constituents, 
I have done so in an orderly manner, in the regular course of business, 
in obedience to my sworn duty, and the gentleman calls this levying 
war 1 ! ! Were I the father of that young man I could feel no more 
anxiety for his welfare than I do now ; but if I were his father I would 
advise him to return to Kentucky and take his place in some law school, 
and commence the study of that profession which he has so long dis- 
graced." 

Mr. Marshall now saw that he was to receive the full force of the 
veteran's severity ; and as if to bid defiance to his powers, he rose, and 
folding his arms across his breast, looked his opponent full in the face. 
This appeared to call forth all the reserved powers of that intellect which 
had attracted the attention of civilized nations. He appeared to his audi- 
tors to rise in stature ; his eloquence became more bold and lofty ; his 
invective more terrific. He referred to the fact that Marshall had 
attended a midnight cabal of slaveholders, and by the influence of " that 
ambition which o'erleaps itself," had consented to act as the prosecutor 
in endeavoring to prostrate and destroy one of the best friends he had on 
earth. lie showed him an ingrate, and as he became warmed up, and 
rose in the dignity of his subject, his language, and thoughts, a breath- 
less silence reigned through the hall and in the vast galleries. There 
was no loud breathing, no rustling of garments ; reporters laid down their 
pens, slaveholders were melted to tears. Marshall still retained his 
position, " a standing corpse ;" he exhibited no other sign of life than a 
nervous tremor which pervaded his system. 

At length Mr. Adams concluded and resumed his seat, while Mar- 
shall remained apparently transfixed and unconscious until a friend inti- 
mated to him the propriety of resuming his seat. 

From this moment the friends of Mr. Adams entertained no further 
apprehensions. "With his intelligence, experience, and mental power, 
basing himself on truth, justice, and human rights, they were willing to 
trust him single-handed, against the entire democratic party, aided by 
the slave power. For such was now the contest, and all appeared to 
feel that Marshall was the champion of the slave power, and that Mr. 
Adams had not only demolished his argument, but had prostrated his 
influence in Congress.* 

* Marshall was exceedingly sensitive to this rebuke, as the writer had full evidence. Soon after 
the scene above described, he came across the hall and addressing Hon. John Campbell, of South 
Carolina, who was sitting near the author, said: " Campbell, I wish I were dead." "Oh, no," 
says Campbell, " you are too sensitive." " I do," said Marshall, with an oath ; " I would rather 
die a thousand deaths than again to encounter that old man." 

But this feeling was subsequently expressed in different language. Mr. Keim, of Pennsylvania, 



168 ME. ADAMS ASSAILS THE SLAVE POWER. 

For twenty years southern members had threatened the dissolution of 
the Union ; had frightened northern members and northern people by 
declaring that they would leave the Union unless the northern people 
would cease to express their detestation of slavery, and the slave trade ; 
while now they were thrown into convulsions when a few northern citi- 
zens kindly and respectfully asked them to carry their threats into 
practice. Mr. Adams now began to arraign the slave power ; no longer 
attempting to defend himself, he boldly stood forth as the accuser and 
prosecutor of the slave interests. 

He charged South Carolina and other slave States with seizing and 
enslaving free colored citizens of the northern States, in violation of the 
Constitution, and presented resolutions calling on the President for cer- 
tain documents wherewith to establish this charge. He also wished for 
a copy of the letter of President Tyler to William Cost Johnson, 
advising him to support the twenty-first rule of the House. These 
papers he deemed necessary for his defence, and the House adopted his 
resolutions ; but the President did not answer them. 

Other members now came to the aid of Mr. Adams ; Hon. John M. 
Botts, of Virginia, alluded to the fact that on a former occasion a gen- 
tleman from South Carolina (Mr. Rhett) had drawn up resolutions 
declaring the Union dissolved ; and was only prevented from presenting 
them because he could not obtain the floor. Mr. Arnold, of Tennessee, 
also sustained Mr. Adams, upon the ground that the twenty-first rule 
was itself a perfect violation of the Constitution. 

Mr. Marshall again addressed the House, evidently preparing the way 
for a retreat from the position he had assumed. On the 3d of Feb- 
ruary, Mr. Gilmer, foreseeing the result, publicly proposed to Mr. 
Adams to withdraw the petition which he had presented, and pledging 
himself in such case to withdraw his resolution of censure. 

Mr. Adams replied that he had presented the petition from a sense 
of public duty, from which he could not excuse himself ; and never 



as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, in the previous Congress, made a report to 
which Mr. Adams could not yield assent, and in speaking upon it, alluded pleasantly to some literary 
defects. Keim was irritated, and in reply assailed the literary character of Mr. Adams. The aged 
member permitted no man worthy of his steel to assail him with impunity, and he replied to Keim 
in a very different style from that in which he had spoken of Marshall. He put on the facetious, 
and reading from one of Sheridan's Irish plays, represented Keim as a retired military officer, and 
Boon found the House convulsed with laughter. 

At this time Marshall entered the front door of the hall, and observing the disorder, turning to Mr. 
Merriwether, of Georgia, who was sitting beside the entrance, inquired the cause. Mr. Merriwether 
answered that Keim, of Pennsylvania, had assailed Mr. Adams, and the old gentleman was now 
making a reply. " Well, well," said Marshall, " if Keim has fallen into old Adams' hands, all I 
can say is mxiy God have mercy on his soul." 



MR. ADAMS STATES HIS DEFENCE. 169 

would ho consent to violate his duty in order to obtain the favor or for- 
bearance of any man or number of men. 

Mr. Adams then commenced stating his defence ; he cited various 
acts and circumstances showing a combination to remove him from the 
post of chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ; and the combi- 
nation of southern members entered into on the evening of the 24th 
January, to prostrate and destroy his influence, in consequence of his 
advocacy of the right of petition, which he held to be sacred. 

He then referred to the fact that the resolution had been presented 
by a geuthMiian from Virginia (Mr. Gilmer) ; said that he had long 
entertained a high respect for that State, from the confidence which 
General Washington had reposed in him forty-eight years previously 
when thai great man first appointed him minister to the Hague, at an 
age so young that he was called " the %-minister." He spoke of the 
early statesmen of Virginia with admiration, and closed his remarks for 
the day by a quotation from Moore, saying he had hoped that the present 
delegation from that State would have felt something of that 

" Holy shame which ne'er forgets 

What clear renown it used to wear, 
Whose blush remains when virtue sets 
To show her sunshine has been there." 

On the following day Mr. Adams complained that his remarks were 
not reported, but airicatured. He stated that from the commencement of 
the trial lie had been misreported ; said it was important that the people 
should know what was passing in that hall, and he proposed a postpone- 
ment for two weeks in order that competent reporters may be obtained. 
He declared the attempts to suppress what was said in favor of liberty, 
constituted good reason for removing the seat of government to some 
free State where slaveholding influence would not control the popular 
mind. 

Mr. Marshall opposed the proposition, and charged Mr. Adams with 

Note -It was during this day that William Smith, of Virginia, formerly Governor of that State, 
interrupting Mr. Adams, said he wished " to make a suggestion for the benefit of the gentleman from 
Massachusetts." Smith was a man of not very elevated character; and Mr. Adams looking round 
upon him with a scowl of contempt, replied, " Non tali auxilio." Smith had forgotten his Latin, 
and not undtr.stan.ling the answer, stood in mute astonishment, not knowing whether to speak or 
say nothing ; but finally turning to Hon. C. It, who sat by his side, inquired what the expression 
meant. The gentleman thus addi essed was an incorrigible punier, and promptly replied, " He is 
very much enraged, and is telling you to 'go to h-lV " Smith, astonished at what he supposed 
the profanity of Mr. Adams, dropped back into his seat, and was never known to interrupt Mr. 
Adams afterwards. 



170 REMARKS OF ME. ADAMS CARICATURED. 

having said in the face of a British nobleman* that the claim of England 
to the right of search was just. This was denied by Mr. Adams, who 
said he had never uttered a word in favor of the right of search, f 

Marshall then insisted that Mr. Adams had advocated the Declaration 
of Independence, in order to dissolve the Union, and Marshall moved the 
previous question, in order to bring the House to a direct vote on the 
resolution of censure. 

Seeing this open and undisguised attempt to suppress whatever he had 
to say in his own defence, Mr. Adams demanded the floor on the reso- 
lution, and proceeded with his remarks. 

In the meantime, the author had obtained a seat inside the bar for the 
Rev. Dr. Leavitt, a very competent reporter, who thought he could 
report Mr. Adams with tolerable accuracy. But Mr. Andrews, of Ken- 
tucky, seeing this, called on the Speaker to enforce the rule prohibiting 
all persons, except members and their officers, from sitting within the 
bar. This was also done with the undisguised intention to suppress 
whatever Mr. Adams might say on that occasion. But Mr. Leavitt 
obtained a seat outside the bar, where he could hear Mr. Adams, took 
notes, and wrote out the remarks at night, and they appeared in one of 
the Boston papers.^ 

Mr. Adams next proceeded to expose the effect of slavery upon the 
pecuniary interests of the country — compared New York with Virginia. 
Spoke of the schools, academies and colleges of the "Empire State," 
and compared tlieni with the paucity of those institutions in " the Old 
Dominion." He then referred to the canals and railroads, the internal 
improvements, the industry, thrift and general prosperity, together with 
the unlimited commerce of New York : then to the miserable highways, 
the deserted plantations, the degraded slave population, dilapidated 
dwellings, and general poverty of Virginia : of the intelligence of one 
State, and the number of men and women in the other who could neither 
read nor write. 

* Lord Morpeth, an Irish peer, had occupied a seat politely tendered him within the bar. It was 
in his presence that Mr. Adams had charged the slaveholding influence of the House and Senate 
with an intention to involve us in a war with England to sustain the African slave trade. 

t British ministers at that day very justly claimed that as slavedealers were pirates, at war with 
mankind, British and American ships of war, while cruising for them, on meeting with a suspected 
vessel, had the right to stop her, and ascertain whether she was really a pirate or engaged in law- 
ful commerce. This was denied by the democratic Administration, who declared that such right 
of visitation constituted a "right of search ;" and Marshall adopted this language, in order to 
assail Mr. Adams more effectually. 

% Mr. Leavitt wrote until about daylight, when he brought his manuscript to the author, who 
franked it to the " Boston Courier," at that time published by Mr. Buckingham, a man of great 
integrity of purpose, an independent and able editor. He inserted the remarks, which occupied 
nearly one page of the paper, and will be found in that publication of about the 5th February, 1842. 



QUESTION OF OKDEK OVEKRULED. 171 

It became evident that slaveholders and Democrats were greatly dis- 
satisfied with the whole proceeding. After laboring six or seven years 
to suppress debate, and just .at the time when they supposed they had 
consummated that object, they had inadvertently thrown the door wide 
open, had placed themselves, as it were, at the mercy of him who was 
most able and most willing to expose the entire despotism of slavery. 

It was - under these circumstances that Hon. Romulus M. Saunders, 
of Xorth Carolina, called Mr. Adams to order for thus comparing slave 
and free States, which he declared to be in no way germain to the 
question of censure. 

The Speaker, with great force, alluded to the fact that the petition 
presented by Mr. Adams asked a dissolution of the Union on account 
of slavery. That the whole proceeding and all the arguments had been 
intended to uphold or to put down that institution, and while a member 
was on trial under such charges, the Chair would not attempt to limit 
his defence. Mr. Saunders appealed, but the House sustained the 
decision of the Speaker. 

After the adjournment, Mr. Adams desired to obtain a copy of the 
correspondence between Governor Seward, of New York, and the 
Governor of Virginia, upon the subject of surrendering persons for trial 
in Virginia, who were charged with stealing slaves. Mr. Gates volun- 
teered to furnish all the documents in regard to that matter, and Mr. 
Adams intended placing that subject before the country on the follow- 
ing day. 

But on the next morning, as he rose to commence his remarks, 
Mr. Merriwether, of Georgia, desired permission to make an inquiry. 
He stated that some ten or twelve days had been spent in this trial : 
that he was ready to vote on the resolution at any moment, and so were 
all the southern members. That Mr. Adams himself was now occupy- 
ing much time, and putting the nation to much expense, and he desired 
to understand how much longer time he expected to occupy in stating 
his defence ? 

Mr. Adams denied being responsible for one moment of the time spent 
in the debate. He declared that the resolution of censure was intro- 
duced without his consent and against his desire. That he objected to 
taking jurisdiction of it, declared the House ought not to entertain it 
for a moment, and had during the whole trial been willing at any 
moment to give way for a motion to lay the subject on the table : and 
as to the time he would occupy in stating his defence, he could not 
attempt to fix any precise period. When Sir Warren Hastings was 
arraigned before the British Parliament, the trial occupied several years, 



1Y2 CLOSE OF THE TRIAL. 

and' Mr. Burke occupied some three months in one speech. He thought 
those precedents perfectly applicable to the present case, but he would 
pledge himself to close the statement of his defence at the earliest 
moment he could do so, consistently with duty to himself and the public, 
and he thought it probable he might close in ninety days. 

This enunciation opened up to his persecutors a new field of thought. 
He had already spent three days in arraigning the institution of slavery 
and its supporters : and now proposed to continue that exposure for 
three months longer. While the people were dissatisfied with their 
representatives for spending so much time and money in a useless attempt 
to censure an aged and venerable member : while to recede would be 
an acknowledgment of the victory which he was evidently about to 

obtain. 

But Mr. Botts, of Virginia, moved to lay the whole subject on the 
table, and his motion was sustained by a vote of 106 to 93. 

During the trial, Mr. Adams had become greatly exhausted. He 
informed his friends that during some of the nights he slept none, and it 
was greatly feared that he would not survive the struggle. But the 
writer and other friends believed that if he died under this persecution, 
he would do more for the cause of liberty than he could in any other 
way, and to this he did not object. But he had now met the advocates 
of slavery upon their chosen field of combat, had driven them from the 
conflict, and his victory was not only complete but important. The 
right of petition was substantially regained, although the twenty-first 
rule was not repealed until some two years subsequently. 



THE SLAVE TRADE ON OUR OWN COA8T. 173 



[1842. 



CHAPTER XI. 

ARRAIGNMENT, TRIAL AND CENSURE OF THE AUTHOR. 

^«— 1808 Congress bad authorized the coastwise slave trade, 
which had now become an important commerce between the north- 
ern slave-growing States and the southern or slave-consuming members 
of the confederacy. In the prosecution of this " American piracy," it 
was estimated that not less than twenty-five thousand human beings were 
annually transported from the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, 
North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, either by land or 
water, to South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, where they were sold to supply the 
places of those who had fallen into premature graves, by reason of the 
hardships, privations and excessive toil to which they were subjected. 

By the treaty of Ghent, as has already been shown, the British and 
American Governments had pledged themselves to the Christian world 
to use their best endeavors totally to abolish the " traffic in slaves." 
t The Commissioners who negotiated that treaty appear to have been 
impressed with the idea that the crime consisted in buying and selling 
(I od's image, and not in the place of perpetrating it. 

Yet after the approval of that treaty, our Government continued to 
encourage the transportation and sale of slaves upon our own coast, 
although the African slave trade was made piracy by statute ; notwith- 
standing, it was far less painful to the pagans of Africa than our domestic 
commerce was to the christianized victims of America. 

Although our Government, in violatiou of treaty stipulations, and in 
violation of our Federal Constitution as well as of justice and Christian- 
ity, lent encouragement to this domestic piracy, yet it was subjected to 
many casualties. In passing around the peninsula of Florida, our slave 
ships were sometimes wrecked on British islands : and the slaves once 
treading British soil, by virtue of English laws became free : and the 
dealers in human flesh were ruined from the failure of their speculations 
in the bodies of men and of women. 

Under these circumstances, it became the interest of slaveholders to 
obtain the cooperation of the government of Great Britain, in direct 
era 'Jet with the treaty of Ghent. The subject was brought before Con- 
gress in the following manner : 



174 LOSS OF SLAVE SHIPS. 

In the year a.d. 1830, the ship " Comet " sailed from Alexandria, in 
the District of Columbia, with a cargo of slaves and property bound for 
New Orleans. She was wrecked on the false keys of the Bahama 
Islands, and the passengers and slaves were carried by the wreckers to 
Nassau', in the island of New Providence, where the slaves sought their 
own happiness under British laws. 

" The Encomium" also sailed in 1834 from Charleston, South' Caro- 
lina, with a number of slaves for New Orleans, was stranded near the 
same place, and the slaves were released in the same manner.* 

The slaveholders called on General Jackson, then President of the 
United States, to obtain for them a compensation for this loss of their 
human cargo. The President appears to have entertained no doubt 
that these slavedealers, whom the common sentiment of civilized nations 
regarded as unworthy of human association, and deserving only of the 
halter and gallows, ought to be encouraged and sustained in the pursuit 
of their vocation. f Mr. Van Buren, at that time Secretary of State, 
in pursuance of executive instructions, transmitted orders to our minister 
at the court of St. James, to press these claims upon the attention of 
the British minister, saying, "they were among the matters most imme- 
diately pressing upon the attention of our Legation at London."% 

Mr. Stevenson, of Virginia, was at that time representative of our 
Government at the British court. He had been bred and educated in 
that political school which regarded slavery as the principal object of 
government, which should at all times receive its fostering care. He 
appears to have entered upon the advocacy of these slavedealing claims, 
without very scrupulous attention to the facts which he asserted, or the 
law which he professed to maintain. 

In his correspondence with the British Government, he asserted that 
" under the Constitution of the United States, slaves are regarded as 
'property:' that there is in fact no distinction between property in 
' persons ' and ' property in things.' " He went on to assert that our 

* Mr. Benton, in his "Thirty Years," represents these slaves as forcibly detained by the British 
officers : while the British authorities asserted that the slaves preferred to remain on the island, and 
there was no authority known in British legislation to send them away. But Mr. Benton, holding 
that slaves were "properly" in the same sense that inanimate goods were regarded, the refusal 
of the British officers to seize and deliver them to their masters was, in his mind, in law a forcible 
retention. 

t Mr. Benton, in his " Thirty Years," says that the slaves on board the " Encomium" belonged 
to Messrs. Waddels, of North Carolina, wlco were among the most respectable inhabitants of that 

State. 

1 There is no doubt that General Jackson did regard the support of slavery and the slave trade 
among the most important interests of our country; nor is it doubted that he was sincere. 
But it is difficult to conceive how Mr. Van Buren, who was educated in the free States and in the 
doctrines of liberty, should have entertained this view of the slave trade. 



MINISTERIAL FALSEHOOD. 175 

Government had " in the most solemn manner determined that slaves killed 
in the public service of the United States, even in time of war, were to be 
regarded as property, and paid for as such." * 

When Mr. Stevenson made this declaration, the records and history 
of the nation showed that instead of paying for slaves, Congress had in 
every instance refused such payment. Yet by these misrepresentations, 
the British minister was led to pay for the slaves lost from on board the 
"Comet" and " Encomium," as they were stranded prior to the emanci- 
pation of the West Indian slavery, and both governments violated their 
solemn pledge " to use their best endeavors for the entire abolition of 
the traffic in slaves." 

But the British minister refused to pay for the slaves lost from on 
board the ship " Enterprise," which the reader will recollect ran into 
Port Hamilton, Bermuda, through stress of weather in 1835, after the 
emancipation of British slavery. This refusal was entirely unsatisfactory 
to the slaveocracy of the United States, which saw in it a progress of 
human thought that would eventually destroy the institution, if permitted 
to increase and strengthen. This jealousy was yet farther stimulated 
by the loss of slaves from on board the ".Hermosa," which sailed from 
Richmond, Virginia, in 1840, and was wrecked on the British island 
Abacco, when the slaves, passengers and crew were taken to Nassau, 
and the slaves obeyed the dictates of nature's law by asserting their owu 
liberty. 

Mr. Barrow, of Louisiana, had presented the petition of certain insu- 
rance companies in that State, praying Congress to take measures for 
obtaining compensation from the British Government for the loss of the 
slaves from the last-mentioned ship. That Senator stated in explicit 
language that the case might present the question of peace or war with 
Great Britain : he declared the people of the southern States were the 
last to submit to the principles of international law as construed by the 
authorities of the British Islands ; and said, if they continued to inter- 
fere with our commerce our navy would sink them ! 

Mr. Calhoun and other Senators concurred in the views of Mr. Bar- 
row, and referred the memorial to the " Committee on Foreign Affairs," 

* Mr. Stevenson was Speaker of the House in 1828, when the case of D'Autrieve was so long and 
ably debated. It was the only case which at the date of this correspondence had been decided by 
Congress on full debate. And in that case the doctrine that slaves were "property ," was very 
emphatically denied, as the reader will recollect. Of these facts, Mr. Stevenson could not have 
been ignorant. But when he asserted that slaves killed in the public service had been recognized 
as property, and. paid for as such, he asserted that which was not only unsustained by the record 
and history of our Government, but that which was distinctly opposed by both history and the 
records of the nation, for our Government had refused such payment just so often as Congress had 
been applied to for it. 



176 CA8E OF THE " CREOLE." 

bat advised the parties concerned to await the action of the British 
Government in the case of the " Creole." 

This ship had sailed from " Hampton Roads" on the 27th October, 
1841, with one hundred and thirty slaves on board bound for New 
Orleans. On the 1th November the slaves rose against the officers and 
crew, declared their right to freedom, taking possession of the deck of 
the ship at the same time. The alarm being heard below, one of the 
slavedcalers named Hewell, who attempting as he came on deck to shoot 
one of the men, was stricken with a handspike and killed. The other 
slavedcalers, captain and crew surrendered, and these people called 
"chattels" were by the force of their own right arms, suddenly trans- 
formed into free men and free women ; and by the same turn of the 
wheel of fortune, the captain, crew and slavedealers were changed from 
lordling masters and dealers in human flesh into submissive vassals, in 
every proper sense slaves, of their former bondmen.* 

They now ordered the mate at first to steer the ship to Liberia ; but, 
being assured that their provisions and water would not last them half 
way, they consented to enter the port of Nassau. Being under British 
laws, they were of course liberated from slavery, went on shore, and 
sought their own happiness. The men, however, who actually rose in 
arms and took possession of the ship, were arrested and imprisoned. 
The captain of the " Creole" demanded them as criminals to be brought 
back to the United States for punishment ; but the authorities of the 
island refused until they should consult the imperial government at 
London.! 

* Mr. Benton, in his " Thirty Years " (vol. ii. p. 409), appropriates an entire chapter to this case ; 
In which he appears to think it necessary for the vindication of himself and those who acted with 
him, to speak of the slaves as " mutineers? bound by the same laws to which voluntary passen- 
gers were subjected ; entirely ignoring the fact that slavery is based upon no law but that of brute 
force : that all publicists and all impartial men understood it to be a perpetual war between mas- 
ter and slave, in which the master is seeking by all the means which God and nature have placed 
at his control, to hold the slave in subjection to his own will, and if necessary he uses the scourge 
and fetters and chains, and even slays his victim if he resist. While the only possible bearing of 
municipal law in his favor Ls to exempt the master from temporal punishment for the crimes which 
he commits against the slave ; but leaves the master with all his moral guilt upon him. That it 
cannot and does not impose upon the slave any moral obligation to submit to the outrages, or to 
abstain from avenging the wrongs perpetrated against Mm. But this view of slavery does not ap- 
pear to have been at any time entertained by the author of the " Thirty Years :" nor does he appear 
to have deemed it necessary to combat this doctrine when advanced by others-. Indeed, Mr. Calhoun 
Is believed to be the only slaveholder of character bold enough to attempt what he supposed a logi- 
cal refutation of the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence. But when that distinguished 
ftatesman undertook to refute the assertion " that all men are created equal," by saying that 
" men were not created— that children only are created? he was supposed to have belittled his 
own intellect rather than the truths which he combated. 

t Mr. Benton, in the chapter alluded to in the previous note, appears indignant at the idea that 
these local authorities were to consult the British Government? He says, "this was tantamount 
to an acquittal or even a justification of all they had done," whimsically adding, " as according to 



POSITION OF BOTH AMERICAN AND BRITISH GOVERNMENTS. 177 

The slaves, once free, demanded their baggage ? The master of the 
ship declared they had no baggage, that they were themselves the property 
of the masters, and of course could hold no property ; but the British 
authorities compelled him to deliver to each negro his blanket and such 
clothing as he had possession of while on board.* 

The slavedealers returned to the United States, and at once called on 
President Tyler, demanding the interposition of the Government to ob- 
tain compensation for this failure of their speculation in human flesh. 

It is believed that neither the President nor the Secretary of State, 
Mr. Webster, entertained any doubts as to the legal or moral character 
of the transaction : nor do they appear to have suspected that for them 
to espouse the cause of these piratical slavedealers, to encourage them in 
their vocation by calling on the British Government to pay them for the 
bodies of those men and women who were lost to slavery and gained to 
freedom, would affect our character among civilized nations. 

The case was one in all respects calculated to test the principles and 
the policy of both governments. These people had been held in servi- 
tude, were sold and bought by these slavedealers, and were being trans- 
ported to market. There was no law of the United States professing to 
give authority to those hucksters in human flesh to hold their victims in 
subjection ; and had there been such enactment, it would not have im- 
posed on them any natural or moral obligation to submit to being thus 
earned to the barracoons of New Orleans. They held the natural and 
inalienable right, derived from the Creator, to live and to . enjoy their 
liberty. The American and British Governments were bound by their 
solemn pledge given to the Christian world in the treaty of Ghent to use 
theh best efforts " totally to abolish the traffic in slaves," rather than 
encourage it. 

The subject excited much interest and solicitude on the part of both 
slaveholders and the advocates of liberty ; indeed, the Christian world 
felt a deep solicitude on the subject, particularly members of the various 
Protestant churches, for there were said to be members of the Methodist, 
Baptist and Presbyterian churches among the people thus set free. 

But the Senate, by resolution, called on the President for the corres- 

all British decisions, a slave has a right to kill Ms master to obtain his freedom V Yet, indig- 
nant as Mr. Benton appears to have been at these decisions, it is believed that neither he nor any- 
other casuist of the present age has dared to deny that the Elave clearly possesses this moral right 
to slay his master if necessary to obtain his liberty. 

* The negroes, by all international and natural law, were entitled to the ship and cargo, as law- 
ful prize ; and all that the captain and crew could legally claim in a neutral port was their own 
personal liberty. But it would seem that the British authorities were unwilling to strike that blow 
at the barbarism of slavery, as were our American philanthropists in the case of the " Amistad," to 
which the attention of the reader was called in a former chapter. 

12 



178 hr. Webster's dispatch. 

pondence between oar Government and that of England in regard to 
this matter, and in answer to this call the Executive transmitted to that 
body a copy of the instructions sent by our Secretary of State to Mr. 
Everett, our minister at London, which, in justice to the President as 
well as to the Secretary of State, we give the substance in the language 
of that distinguished officer : 

" The British Government," says Mr. Webster, " cannot but see that 
this case, as presented in these papers, is one calling loudly for redress. 
The ' Creole' was passing from one port in the United States to another 
on a voyage perfectly lawful* with merchandise on board, and also with 
slaves or persons bound to service, natives of America, and belonging to 
American citizens, and which are recognized as property by the Constitu- 
tion of the United States in those States in which slavery exists.~\ 

" In the course of the voyage some of the slaves rose upon the master 
and crew, subdued them, murdered one man, and caused the vessel to be 
carried to Nassau. The vessel was thus taken to a British port, not 
voluntarily by those who had the lawful authority over her, but forcibly 
and violently against the master's will, and with the consent of nobody 
but the mutineers and murderers. £ 

* Mr. Webster nor his friends never condescended to show how a vessel engaged in the "traffic 
in slaves " could be engaged in a "perfectly laicful 'voyage " while " the supreme law of the land 
had prohibited it ; nor did they ever attempt to show by what course of reasoning human enact- 
ment could change the imperscriptible right of men to life and liberty, which nature and nature's 
God has conferred on every human soul. 

t This assertion is wholly inexplicable. Mr. Webster certainly knew that so far from recognizing 
slaves as property, the Constitution of the United States had, in every instance, referred to them as 
"persons " and not as "property ." Nor could he have been ignorant that in framing that instru- 
ment Mr. Madison had declared " it wrong to admit in the Constitution tfiat man can hold 
property in man" and that every member of the Convention acquiesced in this view. 

% It is most extraordinary that a high officer of state, a man of the dignity of deportment and of 
language which usually characterized Mr. Webster, should, in an official communication have used 
epithets calculated 10 influence only the vulgar and stupid portion of the community. He well under- 
stood that a " mutineer " was one who, being under lawful subjection to a superior officer, rises in 
resistance to such authority ; that a " murderer " is one who, with malice aforethought, willfully 
slays another who is observing the public peace. But all must have been aware that there was no 
law of any legislature or government commanding these people to obey the slavedealers, or the cap- 
tain of the ship. The slave laws of Virginia exerted jurisdiction over them while in that State, or 
within a marine league of its shores ; but when they passed beyond that line, and the ship entered 
upon the " high seas," no laws but those of the United States had authority on board ; and surely 
no statute of this Government gave the slavedealers authority to flog, or fetter, or slay these vic- 
tims of a barbarous usage, sustained only by crime and brute force. Even the statute authorizing 
the transportation of slaves from one port to another, merely exempts the slavedealers from tempo- 
ral punishment, but it did not profess to establish any authority of the master over the slave ; nor 
did it impose upon the slave obedience to the piratical dealer who transports him from one market 
to another ; and so far as the relations of the slaves and masters were concerned, both were left to 
the dictates of " natural justice ;" neither having any authority over the other, but both were 
morally bound to " do unto the others as they would have the others do unto them." And when 
the masters persisted in holding their slaves in bondage and in carrying them to market, the 
slaves had the right to resist with just so much force as was necessary to maintain their lives and 
liberties. 



CASE EEFEKEED TO COMMITTEE. 179 

" Under these circumstances, it would seem to have been the plain and 
obvious duty of the authorities at Nassau, the port of a friendly power, 
to assist the American consul in putting an end to the captivity of the 
master and crew,* restoring to them the control of the vessel, and ena- 
bling them to resume their voyage and to take the ' mutineers and mur- 
derers ' to their own country to answer for their crimes before the 
proper tribunal."f 

"When the message of the President and this letter of instructions to 
our Minister at London were read in the Senate, Mr. Calhoun rose and, 
expressing his gratification, said, " The letter covered the whole ground 
assumed by all parties in the Senate, on the subject, and he hoped it 
would have a beneficial effect, not only in the United States, but in 
Great Britain. Coming from the quarter it did, this document would 
do more than in coming from any other quarter." The message was 
then referred to the appropriate committee. 

These proceedings of the Senate and of the Executive endeavoring to 
place our Government before the nations of the world in the attitude of 
patronizing and sustaining " a commerce in our own species," struck the 
author with the most, profound astonishment. Senators had openly 
declared that " the question might become one of peace, or war." Avow- 
ing distinctly their intention to involve our nation in a war to support 
this " commerce in mankind," if Great Britain did not quietly consent to 
sustain it in her ports, and in that body not a solitary voice, except that 
of Mr. Porter, of Michigan, had been raised against this support of a 
barbarous traffic ; and all expected the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
in the Senate would reiterate these doctrines which had been expressed 
in the case of the " Enterprise," referred to in a previous chapter. 

In the House of Representatives all debate on this subject was pro- 
hibited. The Representatives of the people were not permitted to expose 
these attempts to subject the nation to the odium of sustaining the slave 
trade, in the open sunshine of intelligence and civilization which charac- 
terized the forenoon of the nineteenth century. 

* All the statements show and admit that the negroes did not pretend to hold the master or crew 
in captivity one moment longer than was necessary to secure their own freedom ; but soon as they 
reached the port, and came under British authority, the negroes released them, not waiting for the 
authorities of Nassau to ask or demand their release. 

t This assertion of Mr. Webster, substantially declaring it the duty of the British authorities to 
aid these slavedealers in their piratical vocation ; and that for the reason that that nation was at peace 
with ours, it became their duty to aid in carrying on this " traffic in slaves " in open and undis- 
guised violation of the solemn treaty stipulations "between the two governments, was so extra- 
ordinary that the British Ministry refused to enter into further correspondence than merely to 
refuse compensation. This is the apparent state of the negotiation, for the public have not yet 
been favored with the reply to the demand of Mr. Kverett, or that any reply was made. 



180 the author's propositions. 

Under these circumstances the author determined to make his 
own opinions understood in such manner as best he might. 

For this purpose he drew up certain propositions, which appear to have 
become so essential to the history of important incidents then transpiring 
in our Government, and between the American and British Govern- 
ments, as to warrant their insertion. They were expressed in the follow- 
ing language : 

"Resolved, That prior to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 
each of the several States composing this Union exercised full and exclu- 
sive jurisdiction over the subject of slavery within its own territory, and 
possessed full power to continue or abolish it at pleasure. 

" 2d, That by adopting the Constitution, no part of the aforesaid 
powers were delegated to the Federal Government, but were reserved 
by, and still pertain to each of the several States. 

" 3d, That by the eighth section of the first article of the Federal 
Constitution, each of the several States surrendered to the Federal Go- 
vernment all jurisdiction over the subjects of commerce and navigation 
upon the high seas. 

" Uh, That slavery being an abridgment of the natural rights of man, 
can exist only by force of positive municipal law, and is necessarily con- 
fined to the jurisdiction of the power creating it. 

" 5th, That when a ship belonging to the citizens of any State of this 
Union, leaves the waters and territory of such State, and enters upon 
the ' high seas,' the persons on board cease to be subject to the laws of 
such State, and thenceforth are governed in their relations to each other 
by, and are amenable to, the laws of the United States. 

" 6th, That when the brig ' Creole,' on her late passage for New Or- 
leans, left the jurisdiction of Yirginia, the slave laws of that State ceased 
to have jurisdiction over the persons on board, and they became amen- 
able only to the laws of the United States. 

" "ith, That the persons on board said ship, in resuming their natural 
rights to liberty, violated no law of the United States, incurred no legal 
penalties and are justly liable to no punishment. 

" Slh, That all attempts to regain possession of, or to reenslave said 
persons are unauthorized by the Constitution or laws of the United States, 
and are incompatible with our national honor. 

" 9th, That, all attempts to exert our national iufluence in favor of the 
coastwise slave trade, or to place this nation in the attitude of maintain- 
ing a commerce in human beings, are subversive of the rights and injurious 
to the feelings and interests of the people of the free States ; are unautho- 
rized by the Constitution, and prejudicial to our national character." 



THEY AKE PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE. 1S1 

The resolutions had been previously submitted to Mr. Adams for his 

approval. He was perfectly frank in saying that he could not support 

the one which denied the right of the Federal Government to abolish 

slavery in the States, while he believed and held the principle that in 

case of insurrection or war, the Federal Government might under the 

war power abolish it. To that doctrine, the author replied, that the 

resolutions being drawn and presented in time of peace, and having evident 

relation to a state of peace, would not be regarded as applicable to a state 

of war, which operated to suspend the laws of the country and subject 

the rights of the people to despotic rule, in order to save the nation, and 

that making exceptions as to a state of war might obscure the doctrines 

and weaken the force of the several distinct propositions. 

To this Mr. Adams rejoined, that the friends of slavery in future years 
and during times of war, would quote these resolutions as denying the 
right of the Federal power to interfere with slavery even amidst domestic 
insurrection or foreign invasion ; but he added, "I will cheerfully sustain 
all but that which denies this right to the Federal Government." 

Mr. Adams was a very cautious man, and the author could not at that 
time see the necessity of making the exception to which his attention was 
called, yet he was not unmindful of the almost universal error which 
appeared to control our statesmen of that day, to wit, that human enact- 
ments professing to establish or to sustain slavery had some sort of unde- 
fined and indefinable moral force, beyond the mere exemption of the slave- 
holder or slavedealer from temporal punishment. 

Fully aware that the resolutions were in direct conflict with those pre- 
sented by Mr. Calhoun m the case of the " Enterprise," and of the doc- 
trine avowed by the Executive in the cases of the " Comet " and " En- 
comium," as well as that now asserted by Mr. Webster, the writer en- 
deavored to couch them in language as explicit as he could command. 

On the 21st March the State of Ohio was called on, under the 
rules of the House, for resolutions. Having obtained the floor, [1&42 * 
the writer stated that he had prepared a series of resolutions in 'relation 
to a subject which had called forth some interest in the other end of the 
Capitol, and in the country ; that he desired at that time to lay them 
before the House for consideration, and would call them up for action 
upon the next day which should be devoted to the consideration of reso- 
lutions. Having made these remarks, he sent them to the Clerk's desk, 
in order that they should be read for information, and with the full ex- 
pectation that they would be published in the newspapers and considered 
carefully by members in order to act upon them understandingly on the 



following week 



182 YAKIOTJS OPINIONS EXPRESSED. 

The reading of the resolutions attracted general attention, and after 
the Clerk had read them through, some members called for another 
reading ; and now the most profound attention was directed to the read- 
ing, and at the close there was some excitement apparent among slave- 
holders and northern members of the democratic party. General Ward, 
of New York, inquired of the Speaker whether it was in order to 
demand the previous question so as to bring the House to an immediate 
vote ? 

The Speaker replied in the affirmative. 

Mr. Everett, of Vermont, moved to lay them on the table, saying 
they were too important to be adopted or rejected without considera- 
tion. Mr. Everett's motion was rejected by 125 to 52. 

Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, under great excitement, remarked, 
" there are certain topics like certain places, of which it might be said — 

" ' Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread.' " 

The vote on seconding the demand for the previous question was 
taken, and stood 122 to 61. 

Mr. Everett, a man of experience and of influence in the whig party, 
now rose and asked to be excused from voting, saying the subject was 
18421 ver y i ra P or tant, and would probably come before the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, of which he was a member, and he desired to 
express no opinion until he should have time to examine the question ; 
and he wished on that occasion to express his " utter abhorrence of the 
fire-brand course of the gentleman from Ohio." 

Mr. Fessenden, a Whig of Maine, thought the resolutions were too 
important to be voted upon without greater deliberation. 

Mr. Floyd, of New York, a Democrat, said, " here were eight or ten 
resolutions settling important questions between Federal and State 
governments, which the members had only heard read, but had not seen." 
He thought it important that every member should deliberately examine 
them before voting upon them. 

Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, went to the Clerk's table and read 
the resolutions ; then said, "they appeared to be a British argument on 
a great question between the British and American Governments, and con- 
stituted an approximation to treasox, on which he intended to vote 
no." * 

Mr. Adams called for a division of the question, saying he wished to 

* Mr. Cushing had been elected as a Whig, but when the separation between that party and the 
President took place, he adhered to the President, and was appointed Commissioner to China. He 
was then regarded as the exponent of the President's views. 



MK. BOTTS'S RESOLUTION OF CENSURE. 1S3 

support some and to vote against others, alluding to those which 
denied the right of the Federal Government to abolish slavery in the 
States. 

After these expressions, Mr. Fillmore, of New York, inquired of the 
Speaker, if it were in order to ask the author of the resolutions to with- 
draw them ? The author was unwilling to see members, acting under 
the excitement of the moment, commit themselves against doctrines 
which he was conscious would meet the approval of their judgments in 
moments of cool reflection ; and he withdrew the resolutions, saying he 
had intended only, on that occasion, to call attention to the subject, and 
ask a vote at some future day, and as they would now be published, he 
would withdraw them,' and present them for action at the next day when 
the resolutions should be in order. 

Mr. Botts, of Virginia, now rose, saying, "the withdrawal of the reso- 
lutions did not excuse their presentation ;" he then offered the following 
preamble and resolution for adoption' : 

"Whereas, The Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, the member from the 
sixteenth congressional district of Ohio, has this day presented to this 
House a series of resolutions touching the most important interest con- 
nected with a large portion of the Union, now a subject of negotiation 
between the United States and Great Britain, of the most delicate 
nature, the result of which may involve those nations, and perhaps the 

CIVILIZED WORLD IX WAR : * 

" And whereas, It is the duty of every good citizen, and particularly 
of every selected agent and Representative of the people, to discounte- 
nance all efforts to create excitement and dissatisfaction and division 
among the people of the United States, at such time and under such 
circumstances, which is the only effect to be accomplished by the intro- 
duction of sentiments before the legislative body of the country hostile 
to the grounds assumed by the high functionary having in charge this 
important and delicate trust : 

" And whereas, Mutiny and murder are therein justified and approved 
iu terms shocking to all sense of law, order and humanity, therefore 

" Resolved, That this House holds, the conduct of the said member is 
altogether unwarranted and unwarrantable, and deserving the severest 
condemnation of the people of this country, and of this body in 
particular." 

Objection was made to the presentation of the resolutions by a mem- 

* Mr. Botts was a man of wealth, an extensive slaveholder, and was undoubtedly well informed 
as to the intention of the slave power " to involve the two nations in war," if England refused 
to pay for the slaves lost from on board our slave ships. 



184: PREPARATION FOE DEFENCE. 

ber from the State of Virginia, as the call had proceeded as far as the 
State of Ohio : Mr. Botts moved a suspension of the rules ; but less than 
two-thirds voting for his motion, it failed. 

Mr. Weller, a Democrat, from Ohio, then offered them as his own, 
and called for the previous question. 

There was much excitement in the hall, and a conversational debate 
arose as to the propriety of ordering the previous question, but Mr. 
Weller persisted in demanding it, and the Speaker decided that on a 
question of privilege, the previous question could not cut off a member 
from his defence. • 

1843 , Mr. Fillmore, of New York, took an appeal from this 

decision, and the House overruled the decision of the Chair by a 
vote of 118 to 64,* and the House adjourned. 

Confident that he would not only be permitted to defend himself, but 
probably constrained to do so on the following day, the author spent 
the entire night in preparation, and until near the hour of meeting, 
when he drove to the residence of Mr. Adams, for the purpose of con- 
sulting him. 

The aged patriot was laboring under great depression. He said the 
House would not permit any defence to be made : that the vote would 
be taken without debate, and that appearances indicated the passage of 
the resolution of censure. To the latter proposition, the author readily 
assented, but stated that the result was less important than the mode of 
reaching it ; and that he had supposed the reflections of the night 
would convince members of the impropriety of condemning a man unheard. 
Mr. Adams answered, " You are not as familiar with the slaveholdinsr 
character as I am. Slaveholders act from impulse, not from reflection ; 
they act together from interest, and have no dread of the displeasure of 
their constituents when they act for slavery." 

Conscious of the superior experience of Mr. Adams, the writer then 
began to apprehend the passage of the resolution of censure without 
permitting any defence. 

When the House had been called to order, the Speaker declared the 
first business before it was on seconding the demand for the previous 
question. 

Mr. Weller now proposed to withdraw his demand for the previous 
question, provided the author would at once proceed in his defence, with 

* Mr. Fillmore had been regarded at the time of his election an anti-slavery man. He was ambi- 
tious, and therefore not unwilling to enjoy the favor of both slaveholders and anti-slavery men. 
He served some years in Congress, and being elected Vice-President under General Taylor, he 
became President on the death of that gentleman, but in all his public stations, he manifested a 
desire to conciliate southern interests and southern favor. 



NO DEFENCE PERMITTED. 185 

the general understanding that the previous question should be called 
when such defence was concluded. 

The writer refused to make any terms for the purchase of his constitu- 
tional rights, and the vote was taken on seconding the demand, which 
stood It in the affirmative and 70 in the negative. 

After the previous question was ordered, Mr Weller moved a suspen- 
sion of the rules to enable the writer to make his defence. The Speaker 
declared that as the House had ordered the previous question, it must 
be put before any other could be entertained. Mr. Adams suggested 
that while the previous question might «ut off all other members from 
debate, it ought not to be applied to prevent the accused from defending 
himself. 

The Speaker reminded Mr. Adams that the House had decided that 
the previous question applied to cases of -privilege, and it certainly could 
not apply to one member and not to another, as the privilege of one was 
the privilege of all. 

Members now appeared unwilling to pass the resolutions of r 
censure without permitting a defence to be made. A proposi- 
tion was made to hear the author of the resolutions, by common consent, 
and it was announced that there was a unanimous desire to hear him. 
He then rose, and uttered the following words : " Mr. Speaker, I stand 
before the House in a peculiar position." At this point, Mr. Cooper, 
of Georgia, objected to this proceeding, and he resumed his seat. 

Several gentlemen now gathered around Mr. Cooper, who was per- 
suaded to withdraw his objection. Hon. Wm. B. Calhoun, of Massa- 
chusetts, renewed the objection, declaring he would not see a member of 
the House speak under such circumstances. 

In the meantime, the author, while sitting at his desk, addressed the 
following note : 

" To the Reporter of the 'Intelligencer.' 

" When I rose so often during the confusion of business in the House 
this day, and was so often called to order, the last time by Hon. Mark 
A. Cooper, of Georgia, I had written out, and desired to have stated to 
the House, what follows : 

" ' Mr. Speaker, I stand before the House in a peculiar position. It 
is proposed to pass a vote of censure upon me, substantially for the rea- 
son that I differ in opinion from a majority of the members. The vote 
is about to be taken without giving me an opportunity to be heard. It 
were idle for me to say that I am ignorant of the disposition of a ma- 
jority of the members to pass the resolution of censure. I have been 



186 THE VOTE OF MEMBERS. 

violently assailed in a personal manner, but have had no opportunity of 
being heard in reply ; nor do I now ask for any favor at the hands 
of gentlemen ; but in the name of an insulted constituency, in behalf of 
one of the States of this Union, in behalf of the people of these States, 
and of our Federal Constitution, I demand a hearing in the ordinary 
mode of proceeding ; I accept no other privilege. I will receive no other 
courtesy? " 

This note appeared the next morning in the current proceedings of the 

House. 

The yeas and nays were taken on the resolution of censure, and it was 
adopted by 125 yeas to 69 nays. The vote by States was as follows : 
Maine. Yea— Messrs. Clifford, Littleneld, and Marshall, . . 3 

]Say — Messrs. Fessenden and Randall, 2 

Absent — none. 
New Hampshire. Yea — Messrs. Atherton, Burke, and Redding, 3 

Nay — none. Absent — none. 
Massachusetts. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Adams, Borden, Calhoun, Cushing, Hud- 
son, Parmenter, and Winthrop, 7 

Absent or not voting — Messrs. Briggs and Burnell, . . 2 
Rhode Island. Yea — none. 

Nay — Mr. Cranston, 1 

Absent or not voting — Mr. Tillinghast, 1 

Connecticut. Yea — none. Absent — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Boardman, Brockway, Osborn, Smith, 

Trumbull, and Williams 6 

Vermont. Yea — none. Absent — Mr. Slade. 

Nay — Messrs. Everett, Hall, Mattocks, and Young, . . 4 
New York. Yea — Messrs. Brewster, Clinton, John G. Floyd, 
Charles A. Floyd, Herrick, McClellan, Oliver, Riggs, 

and Ward 9 

Nay. Messrs. Blair, Childs, Chittenden, I. C. Clark, 
Davis, Doig, Ferris, Fillmore, Gates, Gordon, Granger, 

Linn, and Roosevelt, 13 

Not voting — Messrs. Barnard, Babcock, Bowne, McKeon, 
Clark, Foster, Hunt, Patridge, Sandford, Wood, 

and Young, 11 

New Jersey. Yea — Mr. Stratton, 1 

Nay — Messrs. Aycrig and Maxwell, 2 

Not voting — Halstead, Randolph, and York, .... 3 



THE VOTE OF MEiEDEKS. 187 

Pennsylvania. Yea— Messrs. Beeson, Bidlack, Black, Brown, 
Fornance, Gerry, C. I. Ingersoll, J. R. Ingersoll, 
Jack, Plmnmer, Snyder, Westbrook, Keim, Marchand, 

and Newhard, 15 

Nay — Messrs. Henry, James Irwin, James, and Simonton, 4 
Not voting— Messrs. Cooper, Lawrence, W. W. Irwin, 

Ramsey, and Toland, 5 

Delaware. Mr. Rodny did not vote, 1 

Maryland. Yea— Messrs. Mason, Randall, Sollers, and Ken- 
nedy, 4 

Nay — none. 

Absent — Messrs. Johnson and Williams, , 2 

Virginia. Yea— Messrs. Barton, Botts, Cary, Coles, Gilmer, 
Goggin, Goode, Ilains, Hays, Hopkins, Hunter, Hub- 
bard, Mallory, Powell, Smith, Stienrod, Tallifiero, Sum- 
mers, and Stuart, 19 

Nay — none. 

Not voting — Mr. Wise 1 

North Carolina. . Yea — Messrs. Arrington, Caldwell, Daniel, 
Deberry, Graham, McKay, Rayuer, Rcncher, Shepherd, 

Stanly, and Washington, jj 

Nay — none. 

Absent — Mr. Williams, 1 

South Carolina. Yea — Messrs. William Butler, Sampson II. 

Butler, Campbell, Holmes, Pickens,* Rhett, and Rogers, 6 
Nay — none. 

Absent — Messrs. Caldwell and Sumpter - 2 

Georgia. Yea — Messrs. Dawson, Colquit, Cooper, Foster, Hab- 

bersham, and Warren, g 

Nay — none. 

Absent — Messrs. Gamble, Nesbit, and King, . . 3 

Alabama. Yea — Messrs. Houston, Hubbard, Shields, Lewis 

and Chapman, 5 

Nay — none. 

Absent — Mr. Payne, 1 

Mississippi. Yea — Messrs. Gwinn and Thompson, .... 2 

Absent — none. Nay — none. 
Louisiana. Yea — Messrs. Dawson, Moore, and White, ... 3 
Nay — none. Absent — none. 

• Mr. Pickens was Governor of South Carolina at the breaking out of the great rebellion of 1861 



188 WISE REFUSES TO VOTE. 

Arkansas. Yea — Mr. Cross 1 

Nay — none. Absent — none. 
Tennessee. Yea — Messrs. Arnold, McCIellan, I. L. Williams, C. 
H. Williams, W. B. Campbell, Thomas J. Campbell, Tur- 
ney, Carothers, Guntry, Watcrson, A. V. Brown, Milton 

Brown, and Johnson, 13 

Nay — none. Absent — none. 
Kentucky. Yea — Messrs. Boyd, Triplett, Owsley, Thompson, 

Green, Sprigg, Andrews, Davis, and Butler, .... 9 

Nay — Messrs. Pope and Underwood, 2 

Absent — Mr. Marshall, 1 

Mr. Speaker White not voting 1 

Ohio. Yea — Messrs. Doane, Medill, Mathews, Sweeney, Hastings, 

Dean, and Weller, 7 

Nay — Messrs. Good, Morrow, Morris, Pendleton, Ridge- 
way, Mason, Cowen, Mathiot, Stokeley, and Andrews, . 10 

Absent — Mr. Russel, 1 

Mr. Giddings not voting, 1 

Indiana. Yea — Messrs. Thompson, Kennedy, and Lane,* . . 3 
Nay — Messrs. White, Cravens, and Wallace, .... 3 

Not voting— Mr. Proffit, 1 

Michigan. Yea — none. Absent — none. 

Nay — Mr. Howard, f .... 1 

Illinois. Yea — Messrs. Casey, Reynolds, and Stuart, ... 3 
Nay — none. Absent — none. 
Mr. Wise, of Virginia, declared that he would not vote on such z 
question ; Mr. Barnard, of New York, published a card declaring tho 
whole proceeding unconstitutional, and that he would not lend his sane 
tion, even by voting against the resolution of censure. 

Mr. Slade, of Vermont, published a card saying he was confined by ill 
health ; but had he been present, he certainly would have voted against 
the resolution of censure. 

1S421 When the Speaker announced the resolution "carried," the 

author rose, and taking formal leave of the Speaker and officers 
of the House, of his colleagues, of Mr. Adams, and a few other personal 
friends, passed out of the hall. As he reached the front door, he found 
Senators Clay and Crittenden, of Kentucky, who had been spectators 
of the scene just described. As Mr. Clay extended to him his hand he 



* Mr. Lane is a republican Senator at the writing of these sketches in 1SG2. 
+ Mr. Howard is also a republican Senator in 1S62. 



THE AUTHOR RESIGNS HIS SEAT. 189 

thanked him for the firmness with which he had met the outrage perpe- 
trated upon him, declaring that no man would ever doubt his perfect 
right to state his own views against the slave trade, particularly while 
the Executive and the Senate were expressing theirs in favor of it.* 

The author at once sent his resignation to the Speaker of the House, 
and a copy to the Governor of Ohio, and left the city for his residence. 

* This kindness and encouragement tendered by Mr. Clay at that time, will account, in part, for 
the author's friendship towards him in later years. 



190 THE AUTHOR DENOUNCED. 



,1842.] 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SLAVE POWER BAFFLED. 

At the meeting of the House, on the morning after the vote 
of censure was given, members appeared dissatisfied. Mr. Adams 
moved an amendment of the journal in order to make it show more ex- 
plicitly his own opposition to the resolution of censure. 

Mr. Everett, of Vermont, moved to print five thousand extra copies 
relating to the censure, for distribution among the people. 

Mr. Stanly, of North Carolina, said : " If the gentleman from Ver- 
mont will include the resolutions presented by Mr. Giddings, I will vote 
for tweuty thousand copies." 

Mr.' Everett. " I accept the amendment." 

Mr. Adams. " Fifty thousand copies. 11 

But Mr. Stanly no longer urged his proposition. 

Mr. Weller appeared anxious to have the journal so amended as to 
show that Mr. Giddings had an opportunity of defending himself ; but 
the House refused the proposition. 

Neither the slave power nor the democratic party had been willing to 
take issue upon the propositions presented for the consideration of the 
House. Even Mr. Calhoun, the leading advocate of slavery, while 
frankly declaring the author to have been wrong in presenting his reso- 
lutions, was never known to deny their doctrines. No statesman, no 
respectable editor of the democratic party, denied that the propositions 
were a correct expose of constitutional doctrines ; but slaveholding 
statesmen and democratic editors .were loud in their denunciation of the 
author for thus expressing his honest convictions. He was proclaimed 
an " agitator," a " demagogue seeking notoriety," an " abolitionist ;" 
and the reflecting men of that day saw most clearly that the masses of 
the democratic party and a large portion of the whig party, really enter- 
tained the opinion that northern members of Congress had no right to 
speak truth in regard to slavery and the slave trade upon the high seas, 
in the District of Columbia, or in the Territories of the United States. 
Indeed, it were difficult for men at this time to conceive the political 
degradation to which the popular mind of the North had been subjected 
by the long and constant surrender of northern rights and northern 
honor, that slavery and the slave trade might be upheld and encou- 
raged. 



ACTION OF THE PEOPLE. 191 

But this public censure of a member of Congress for uttering his sin- 
cere convictions did much to awaken the people to a consciousness that 
their liberties were in danger. The anti-slavery press and a portion of 
the whig press, published the whole proceedings with discreet and import- 
ant comments and suggestions.* 

Public meetings were held in the principal cities of the free States, 
declaring the right of members of Congress to express their views in 
regard to slavery and the slave trade, so long as that body was called 
on to sustain the institution. 

In the author's district there was much indignation manifested ; 
large public meetings were convened. The doctrines enunciated in his 
resolutions, as well as his _ right to present them, were carefully and 
fully sustained, and he was called on to stand as a candidate for reelec- 
tion without the formality of a nomination by convention. At some of 
these meetings the primal doctrines of government were referred to, and 
the rights of the people and of the States defined with a precision that 
would have done no discredit to the statesmen of that day.f 

These proceedings and resolutions were presented to the consideration 
of the House of Representatives, and were entered upon the record of 

* The author would do injustice were he to omit the fact, that "The New York Evening Post," 
edited by William C. Bryant, an able democratic paper, avowed the right of Mr. Giddings to pre- 
sent his resolutions, and the editor declared that were he a resident of Mr. Giddings' district, he 
would use every honorable effort for that gentleman's reelection. 

t The following resolutions were adopted at a large convention held in Ashtabula County : 

Resolved, That our fathers, at the expense of much blood and treasure, established a representa- 
tive form of government in which the voice of the people- was recognized as the controlling power. 

2d, That the right of representation having been purchased by the best blood of our ancestors, 
can only be surrendered with the blood of their offspring. 

Sd, That to the maintenance of our Government in its representative form we solemnly pledge 
our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 

4th, That every attempt to abridge the right of the people to be heard through their representa- 
tives in Congress is incompatible with our institutions, subversive of American liberty, and revolu- 
tionary in its tendency. 

5lh, That the vote of censure passed upon the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings on the 22d March last 
was a flagrant violation of our rights and the rights of our State, subversive of one of the most im- 
portant features of our Government, and should be regarded as the commencement of an import- 
ant revolution. 

6th, That while those concerned in the coastwise slave trade demand of the Federal Government 
protection in their vocation, the traffic in human flesh must constitute a subject of legitimate debate 
both in Congress and among the people. 

1th, That as brethren of the same republican family, we call upon members of Congress who voted 
to censure cur Representative to declare explicitly whether they desire us to maintain the coastwise 
slave trade while they deny to us the expression of our own views on the subject? 

Sth, That the question now proposed to the American people is one that rises above all party 
considerations, involving the most vital principles of the Government, imperiously demanding the 
united efforts of all parties in support of the Constitution and the rights of the people. 

9th, That these proceedings be signed by the president and vice-president, and certified by the 
secretaries, and transmitted to the Hon. Patrick G. Good, of the House of Representatives in Con- 
gress, with a request that he lay them before that body. 



192 THE AUTHOR REELECTED. 

debates in that body. Some of these attracted attention, and were said 
to rank among the ablest state papers of the twenty-seventh Congress, 

The author was reelected by an overwhelming vote, and instructed by 
the people to resume his seat, to reassert his doctrines, and to maintain 
them. 

At the expiration of five weeks from the time of censure, the author 
resumed his seat in Congress, clothed with instructions from the people 
of his district to re-present his resolutions and maintain to the extent of 
his powers the doctrines which they asserted. His return was hailed 
with emotions of gratification by his venerable friend Mr. Adams, who 
declared his entire confidence in the intelligence and disposition of the 
people to reform the Government, if properly appealed to by public men. 
Messrs. Slade and Gates were greatly strengthened in their hopes of suc- 
cess, and those members who had voted against the censure were cheered 
and confirmed in their convictions respecting the freedom of debate. 

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Senate, to whom the mes- 
sage of the President on the subject of the " Creole," and the letter of 
the Secretary of State to our minister at London, were committed, 
appeared unwilling to agitate the subject farther and made no report, 
retaining those important state papers in unbroken silence. Mr. Cal- 
houn ceased to call the attention of the country to these claims for 
slaves : indeed, so far as the author could learn, Mr. Calhoun never sub- 
sequently mentioned the subject even in private conversation. The 
Senate forbore all further discussion in regard to slaves freed under 
British laws, and neither Mr. Webster, the Secretary of State, nor Pre- 
sident Tyler, nor his successor, Mr. Polk, were known to have taken fur- 
ther action on the subject : indeed, it was often asserted in the House 
that the Executive had been silenced by the voice of the people, and 
southern members were taunted with receding from their arrogant assurap- 
- ; to which they only replied, that the claims were not abandoned, 
though not then pressed upon the British Government. 

But the most remarkable effect of this popular feeling was manifested 
in the House of Representatives by the members who voted for the 
resolution of censure. They well understood the instructions of the 
author, to again present the resolutions, which had now been published 
throughout the free States, and to maintain the doctrines which they 
asserted. If thus preseutcd, the House must have adopted or rejected 
them. But they could only be presented when the States were called 
on for resolutions, which by the rules of the House was on each alter- 
nate Monday. Yet a large majority had voted for the censure, and were 
at all times able to control the business of the House ; and as often as 



THE AUTHOR VINDICATES HIMSELF. 193 

resolution day came round, a motion was made and carried to proceed 
to other business, thereby defeating the author's intention to present his 
resolutions for consideration. During the remainder of that session and 
the whole of the last session of the twenty-seventh Congress, the slave 
power and the democratic party exhibited a moral cowardice entirely un- 
worthy of statesmen. 

Finding the majority thus to have receded from the position they had 
assumed when censuring the author, he seized upon the first opportunity, 
to vindicate in a public speech, the doctrines avowed in the resolutions 
which the party would not permit him to present to the House. The 
speech was listened to with respectful attention, and although he spoke 
with severity of language respecting the slave trade and of those who in 
official stations encouraged that commerce iu men and women, yet he 
was not called to order. Indeed, without interruption he reasserted and 
vindicated the doctrines for which he had been censured sixty days pre- 
viously. From that day the freedom of debate was substantially regained, 
although the twenty-first or gag-rule continued to hold a place in the 
manual for two years after this incident occurred.* 

These extraordinary proceedings attracted attention in England. The 
English press republished the proceedings in the House of Representa- 
tives. The British Ministry had, however, refused indemnity to the slave- 
dealers before the news of the author's expulsion leached that country. 
In the meantime so many questions of difficulty had arisen between the 
British Government and ours, that Lord Ashburton was appointed envoy 
and minister plenipotentiary to our Government for the purpose of set- 
tling all matters existing between the two nations, except those arising 
from the release of slaves landed on British islands, including the " Cre- 
ole," on that he was authorized to hold no correspondence. 

This was the first instance in the history of our Government, on which 
the popular voice was definitely and distinctly uttered in such <lirect\con- 
demnation of the acts of either branch of our national Legislature ; and 
few instances have occurred in which the voice of the people has been 
proclaimed with greater potency. 

* Mr. Benton, in his " Thirty Years," appropriates an entire chapter to the case of the " Creole," 
in which he evidently intended to justify himself and the Senators who voted and acted with 
him on that subject ; but he makes no allusion to proceedings in the House, or to any of the inci- 
dents attending its agitation in that body. It is, however, still more remarkable, that in his 
"Abridgment of Congressional Bebates," which purports to give an abstract of all that was said 
and done in that body, he does not allude to the resolutions presented by the author, nor to the vote 
of censure, nor to any circumstance attending the author's resignation, and return to Congress. 
But these facts show the efforts made to pervert the truth of history, in order that our records might 
not bear testimony to the despotism and depravity of those who, for half a century, upheld and 
•ncouraged crimes of the most revolting character. 

13 



194 ATTEMPTS TO EEMOVE MR. ADAMS. 

The very general effort of the pro-slavery press and politicians to 
misrepresent the history of the " Creole," and to suppress so far as pos- 
sible all knowledge of the real questions involved, constitute the author's 
vindication for sfpeaking with perfect freedom of scenes iu which he was 
so prominent an actor. 

The democratic party had looked to the visit of Lord Ashburton with 
the hope and expectation that the Executive would induce the British 
Government to surrender the right of visitation, which for many years 
had been a subject of diplomatic correspondence. By " the right of 
visitation," British statesmen understood the right of every British ship 
of war, when cruising for slavedealers, to visit suspected ships so far as 
was necessary to determine whether they were " pirates " or ships " en- 
gaged in lawful commerce." This right had been denied by our slave- 
holding administrations, and as such visitation rendered the African slave 
trade more dangerous, and thereby enhanced the price of slaves, our pro- 
slavery statesmen were anxious to exempt all ships sailing under Ameri- 
can colors from such interruption. 

But this expectation failed. The British minister made no concession ; 
on the contrary, by the treaty formed between the two governments in 
1842, the United States agreed to constantly maintain a naval force 
upon the African coast, of at least eighty guns, for the more effectual 
suppression of the slave trade. 

But the arrogant conduct of southern statesmen was well illustrated 
by certain members who had been appointed to serve on the Committee 
of " Foreign Affairs." Having failed to induce the House to remove Mr. 
Adams from the position of chairman, Messrs. Gilmer and Hunter, of 
Virginia ; Rhett, of South Carolina ; Johnson, of Maryland, and Proffit, 
of Indiana, united in a written application, addressed to the House of 
Representatives, asking to be excused from serving on said committee, 
as they were unwilling to act with Mr. Adams as chairman, who, they 
said, had "avowed opinions, and persevered in a system of conduct, which 
in their opinion, showed him an unsafe depository of public trust."* The 
House by a vote readily excused them from further service on said com- 
mittee, and the Speaker appointed Messrs. White, of Louisiana ; A. H. 
Shepherd, of North Carolina ; Isaac E. Holmes, of South Carolina ; 
R. Chapman, of Alabama, and Mark A. Cooper, of Georgia, to act as 
members of said committee in the place of the five members who had 

* Of these gentlemen, Mr. Hunter is, at the time of writing this note, an agent of the rebels, sent 
to England to obtain aid for the Southern Confederacy, and Mr. Rhett is a member of the rebel 
congress ; while the others have died without giving to the world any extraordinary evidence of 
their own patriotism. 



COLORED MEN HOLD THE EIGHT OF SUFFRAGE. 195 

been excused. Of these, Messrs. Cooper, Holmes, and Chapman, also 
asked to be excused for the reasons set forth by then* predecessors.* 
These gentlemen were also excused by vote of the House. They all ap- 
peared to entertain no doubts that their efforts to affect the reputation 
of Mr. Adams, would exert an extensive influence upon the country. 
But the aged hero appeared entirely unconscious of danger on that point, 
nor did his friends exhibit any particular alarm in regard to it. 

A bill to amend the charter of the City of Alexandria came up for 
consideration, when Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, moved an amendment, 
granting the right of suffrage to all " free, white male citizens." 

Mr. Adams moved to strike out the w/>rd " white," so as to extend 
the right to all "free citizens" without respect to color. In support of 
this motion, he urged that the protection of life, of liberty, and property 
was as dear and as necessary to the colored man as to the white man. 
That the colored man contributed of Ins substance to the support of 
the Government in all cases the same as white men, and frequently is 
taxed to educate the children of white men, in schools where they are 
not permitted to send their own ; that the rights of life and liberty are 
not involved in the right of suffrage,, which is strictly a conventional, 
and not a natural right ; yet no just reason can be assigned why the 
right to vote should depend upon the complexion. 

Slaveholders were enraged at this proposition, and still more at the 
reason and logic with which it was enforced, yet no man presumed to 
attempt any answer, but put an end to the discussion by laying the sub- 
ject on the table. 

The second session of the twenty-seventh Congress was characterized 
by still greater efforts in favor of despotism on the part of the southern 
statesmen, and by corresponding exertions on the part of the advocates 
of liberty to defeat those designs of the slave power ; but reflecting men 
saw clearly that the slaveholding influence had passed its culminating 
point. The institution no longer exerted undisputed sway. The regain- 
ing the right of petition and freedom of debate constituted the first step 
in the important reformation which may be said to have been fairly in- 
augurated during the year 1842. The author was stigmatized as an 
" agitator," a " fanatic," an " abolitionist," and " exerting no influence 
in Congress." No man, no editor assailed the doctrines laid down in 
the resolutions which brought upon him such a deluge of slaveholding 
wrath. 

* Those gentlemen who felt it wrong to detract from their own dignity by serving on committee 
with Mr. Adams, were permitted to retire from the public gaze, and the author cannot now say 
whether they are living or dead. 



196 ANTI-SLAVERY PUBLICATIONS. 

It was, therefore, necessary to make his real views known, in order to 
maintain the position which he had assumed. Mr. Adams better under- 
stood the difficulty, and had been unwilling to join in any platform of 
principles, saying he would not live to vindicate them ; but at the same 
time appeared quite willing that the author should avow his doctrines 
and policy, believing, as he said, that the author would live to maintain 

them. 

During the recess of Congress the author wrote for publication a 
series of articles signed " Pacifieus." They were first published in the 
" Western Reserve Chronicle," a paper printed at Warren, Ohio. The 
object of these essays was to draw the constitutional line of demarkation 
between the Federal Government and the institution of slavery. They 
fully admitted the privilege of the southern States to maintain the insti- 
tution ; that although it was wrong, yet neither the free States nor the 
Federal Government possessed constitutional authority to interfere with 
it. But they asserted that the free States held the same right to be 
entirely free and exempt from its disgrace and expense. That as the 
slave States held the privilege to enjoy slavery, the free States held the 
same privilege to enjoy freedom. Therefore the Federal Government 
could no more abolish slavery in our southern States than it could abolish 
freedom in the free States ; and as it was the equal agent of both free 
and slave States, it could not interfere to uphold or put down slavery in 
the South or liberty in the North. 

That in regard to the Territories, the District of Columbia, and the 
high seas, no State authority or State laws could be recognized. There 
Congress held supreme jurisdiction and was bound to carry out the 
doctrines avowed by the fathers in 1176, that human governments are 
instituted to secure human rights. 

In these articles the writer carefully touched upon the natural rights 
which the Creator had bestowed upon mankind. He referred to the case 
of a fugitive slave, asserting his right at all times to maintain his liberty, 
even though in doing so it becomes necessary to slay his master and all 
others who attempt to hold him in bondage. 

These articles attracted attention, and were extensively repub- 
lished in newspapers and in pamphlet form. They were com- 
mended by editors, politicians, and statesmen. But anti-slavery men 
found great difficulty from their inability to form an issue with the sup- 
porters of slavery. In Congress and out of it members of the demo- 
cratic party carefully avoided every issue which the lovers of liberty 
tendered them. Pro-slavery statesmen and politicians were loud in their 
denunciations ; but careful to lay down no rule, doctrine, or principle, 



me. upshur's proposition. 197 

on which the advocates of human rights could take issue. Nor would 
the advocates of slavery deny any specific doctrine, principle, or primal 
truth which the lovers of liberty maintained. 

But the policy of the slaveholding portion of the Union was inclis- 
cretely expressed by the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Upshur, in his 
annual report transmitted to Congress by the President at the opening 
of the last session of the twenty-seventh Congress. Mr. Upshur was 
a native of Virginia, educated in that State, and reared in the belief that 
the Old Dominion was entitled to furnish the principal officers of Govern- 
ment, and to shape the politics of the nation. The failure of Mr. Cal- 
houn in his efforts to commit the nation to support the coastwise slave 
trade, seemed never to have been heard of by Mr. Upshur, or if under- 
stood, he must have disregarded the example which that case afforded. 
He now recommended an increase of the navy sufficient to prevent an 
enemy from landing upon our shores ; and as an argument, he iusisted 
that the " peculiar population " of the South would render it dangerous 
to permit our enemies to make a lodgment within our slave States. 

This proposition to tax the nation for the protection of slavery, how- 
ever indiscreet, constituted evidence of an intention to make the people 
of the free States bear the burdens of the institution, and northern 
advocates of freedom held up that policy to the condemnation of the 
people, insisting that no appropriation should be made from the national 
funds for that purpose, though the institution were to be swept from the 
earth. That we would protect the South against invasion by calling 
their slaves into service, as General Jackson had done in 1814, or we 
would set the slaves free as he had done : But there was no southern 
or northern Senator or Representative that would stand forth in defence 
of the Secretary's policy. 

On the second day of the session, Mr. Adams introduced a resolution 
repealing the twenty-first rule of the House, and called for the previous 
question ; there was a second to the demand, but the House refused to 
order the main question, and it was thus postponed from day to day for 
some time, when it was laid on the table by a bare majority ; members 
appeared unwilling to repeal it by direct vote, although it had morally 
ceased to operate. 

Another item of some political significance occurred at the opening 
of this last session of the twenty-seventh Congress. The author had 
been appointed chairman of the Committee on Claims at the first 
session, which commenced in December, 1841, and having served the 
whole of the first session and part of the second, resigned his seat under 
the vote of censure, in March, 1842, and another chairman had been 



19S ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE AUTHOK. 

appointed to fill the vacancy, who, of course, held the place up to the 
close of that session. Southern members now insisted that the Speaker, 
being a warm friend of Mr. Clay, would not dare to disregard southern 
feelings so much as to reappoint the author. The writer had forbidden 
his friends to make any effort for his reappointment ; but the Speaker 
seemed to have no hesitancy. Indeed, he said publicly that the vote of 
censure was an outrage to which he had always been opposed, and for 
which he desired to express his entire disregard by reappointing Mr. 
Giddings. 

The committee was composed of three northern Whigs, besides • the 
writer, to wit : Messrs. Tomlinson, of New York ; Osborn, of Connecti- 
cut, and Cowen, of Ohio ; while Messrs. Arnold, of Tennessee, and War- 
ren, of Georgia, were slaveholding Whigs ; and Messrs. Burke, of New 
Hampshire ; Medill, of Ohio, and Hubbard, of Virginia, were Democrats. 
Thus there was a Whig majority of three, and a pro-slavery majority of 
the same number. 

By the ancient rules of the House, the committees held the right to 
elect their chairman ; but the practice had long been for the member 
first named on the list to perform the duties of the office, and it had 
come to be universally regarded as law. So universal was this under- 
standing that the majority of the Committee on Foreign Affairs would 
not assume the responsibility of electing a chairman in opposition to Mr. 
Adams, who had been appointed by the Speaker ; but asked the House 
to remove him, and resigned their places when the House refused. Not 
so with the Committee on Claims ; the three Democrats and two 
southern Whigs had voted for the public censure of their chairman, and 
for them now to sit in committee with that gentleman as presiding 
officer, would constitute a humiliation to which they were unwilling to 
submit.* 

Mr. Warren, of Georgia, took care to inform the chairman that the 
majority of the committee had determined to remove him, and stated the 
day on which it was to be done, and advised a resignation. To this the 
chairman replied that he had been appointed by the Speaker because of 
his .industry and general character. That in presenting his resolutions 
he had acted according to the dictates of his conscience, and his constit- 
uents had effectually reversed the judgment of the House ; that such, 
too, seemed to be the opinion of the Speaker. "Under the circumstances 
he felt no disposition to resign, but would meet any action of the com- 

* Mr. Burke, in a personal conversation, on the morning after the resolution of censure was 
introduced, and while it was pending, assured the author in the most solemn manner that if he had 
the power, he wouUd hang him for introducing resolutions against the slave trade. 



FAILURE OF THE ATTEMPT. 199 

mittee in such manner as best he might. Mr. Warren assured him that 
he, wished to avoid a vote ; but if compelled to express his views, he would 
be constrained to act in accordance with the sentiment of the South. 
Not so with Mr. Arnold of Tennessee : he was a slaveholding Whig, 
and while he asserted his attachment to slavery, he declared that he 
would never unite with Democrats to perpetrate an outrage upon a mem- 
ber merely because he was opposed to that institution. 

On the morniug appointed for taking the vote, Mr. Arnold was not 
present. Mr. Medill left the committee, as he said, to persuade Mr. Ar- 
nold to attend. Neither of them however appeared subsequently during 
the day. The committee proceeded in the discharge of their duties, and 
the next morning democratic members announced that Mr. Arnold would 
not sustain the proposition to remove the chairman, who continued in the 
iluties of his office without further interruption. 



200 THE EIGHT OF VISITATION. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ATTEMPTS TO OBTAIN PAYMENT FOR SLAVES, AND EFFORTS AT PERSONAL 

INTIMIDATION. 

1843 , After the "Treaty of Washington" had been concluded and 

ratified, there was much discontent manifested among southern 
men at its silence in regard to the right of visitation. Sir Robert Peel, 
in the British parliament, declared that his government had in no respect 
modified its claim to exercise the right of visiting suspected ships, so far as 
to ascertain whether they were employed in lawful commerce or engaged 
in the -slave trade ; while it had long been claimed on the part of our 
Government that no cruiser had the right to stop any ship sailing under 
American colors, to ascertain whether she were engaged in the slave trade 
or not ; and so far was this opposition carried, that war had been threat- 
ened by leading members of the democratic party, if England continued 
the practice. It was on this evidence that Mr. Adams based his asser- 
tion that it " was intended to involve our nation in a war with England 
for the purpose of reopening the African slave trade." There could be 
no other excuse for the hostility manifested by southern statesmen against 
the efforts of England to abolish that traffic. But in making the Ash- 
burton treaty, this feeling in favor of the slave trade did not control the 
Executive. The President was a Virginian, and decidedly in favor of 
fostering the interests of that State. She had long been in the practice 
of sending her surplus slave population to southern markets, which had 
become profitable ; indeed, Virginia had literally become a slave breeding 
State ; and all her interests were opposed to the African slave trade, 
which brought the imported Africans in competition with Virginia reared 
slaves. President Tyler therefore found it no disagreeable duty to 
give up the southern doctrine in regard to the right of visitation, and 
enter into further covenants for the suppression of the African slave 
trade. These things created great dissatisfaction in the democratic 
party, inasmuch as General Cass and other leading members had 
warmly opposed the right of visitation, declaring it to be a revival 
of the former "right of search," to which in fact it bore very little re- 
semblance. 

Senator Crafts, of Vermont, presented to the Senate the legislative 



SLAVE TRADE IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 201 

Resolve of that State declaring it the duty of Congress to abolish 
slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia ; but the Senate 
raised the question of reception, and laid that question on the table, 
leaving the resolution in the hands of the Senator who brought it 
forward. 

By way of preamble, it recited "That the foreign slave trade was 
regarded as piracy, punishable with death under our laws : That a 
' traffic in men ' had long been carried on within sight of the halls of 
Congress and of the President's dwelling, characterized by all the crimes 
of the foreign slave trade, aggravated by its outrages upon the sensibili- 
ties of a Christian community, under and by virtue of the laws of Con- 
gress. Therefore, 

" Resolved, That all laws in any way sanctioning or authorizing the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia, ought to be repealed, and the 
trade prohibited." 

Mr. Slade, wishing to present this resolution to the House, and know- 
ing that tho twenty-first rule prohibited its reception, moved a suspension 
of the rules in order to present it for action in that body. All mem- 
bers from the slave States voted against the motion ; those from the free 
States voted as follows : 
Maine. Yea — Messrs. Bronson, Fessenden and Randall, ... 3 

Nay — Messrs. Littlefield, Lowell, and Marshall, .... 3 

Not voting — Messrs. Allen and Clifford, 2 

New Hampshire. Yea — none. 

Kay — Messrs. Burke, Eastman, Redding, and Shaw, . . 4 

Not voting — Mr. Atherton, 1 

Massachusetts. Yea — Messrs. Winthrop, Parmenter, Hudson, 

Baker, Briggs, Calhoun, Borden, Burnell, and Adams, . 9 

Nay — None. 

Not voting — Messrs. Saltonstall and Cushing, .... 2 

One vacancy. 
Rhode Island. Yea — Messrs. Cranston and Tillinghast, ... 2 
Connecticut. Messrs. Trumbull, Boardman, Osborn, and Smith, 4 

Not voting — Messrs. Brockway and Williams, .... 2 
Vermont. Yea — Messrs. Slade, Everett, and Mattocks, . . . 3 

Not voting — Messrs. Hall and Young, 2 

New York. Yea — Messrs. J. G. Floyd, McKeon, Roosevelt, 
Ferris, Davis, Hunt, Barnard, Linn, Blair, Tomlinson, 
Chittenden, J. C Clark, S. N. Clark, Patridge, Birdsey, 
Morgan, Maynard, Granger, Oliver, Childs, Gates, Fill- 
more, and Babcock, 23 



202 VERMONT INSULTED. 

Nay— Messrs. C. A. Floyd, Wood, Ward, Clinton, Tan 
Buren, McClellan, Herrick, Brewster, Gordon, and 

Riggs, 10 

Not voting— Messrs. Egbert, Van Rensalear, Sandford, 

Doig, Bowne, Granger, and Young, 1 

Pennsylvania. Yea— Messrs. James, Ramsey, Cooper, Russell, 

McKennon, Henry, and J. R. Ingersoll, ? 

Nay— C. I. Ingersoll, Brown, Romance, Westbrook, New- 
hard, Keim, Gerry, Marchand, Beeson, Bidlack, Irwin, 

Jack, and Plummer, 13 

Not voting— Jeremiah Brown, Edwards, Simonton, Gus- 

tine, Irwin, Snyder, Reed, and Russel, 8 

Ohio. Yea— Messrs. Pendleton, Goode, Morrow, Morris, Russel, 
Ridgeway, Cowen, Mathiot, Andrews, Giddiugs, and 

Stokeley, U 

Nay— Messrs. Dean, Mathews, Weller, Medill, Sweeney, 5 
Not voting — Messrs. Hastings, Doane, and Mason, ... 3 

Indiana. Yea — Messrs. White and Cravens, 2 

Nay — Mr. Thompson, 1 

Not voting — Messrs. Profit, Kennedy, Wallace, and Lane, 4 
Illinois. Yea — Messrs. Casey, Reynolds, and Stuart, .... 3 

Michigan. Absent — Mr. Howard, 1 

Such was the respect of the several northern members for the right? 
and dignity of a free State. The whole vote, including members from 
the slave States, showed 73 yeas, 109 nays, and 34 members from the 
free States not voting. 

The question of property in human beings was again brought before 
the House of Representatives, but in a more objectionable form than it 
had been presented in 1828. 

When General Jackson invaded West Florida in 1814, the followers 
of his camp took with them, on leaving the territory, more than a hun- 
dred slaves ; and when he again invaded it in 1818, he took from the 
inhabitants provisions to a considerable amount. 

By the ninth article of our treaty with Spain in 1820, it was stipu- 
lated " that the Spanish inhabitants shall receive compensation for any 
losses they may have sustained by reason of the operations of the late 
American army within that territory." 

1843 1 Under this treaty all claims arising from the operations of the 

American army in Florida, during the year 1818, were regarded 
as valid, and were adjusted. 

But those who had lost slaves during the invasion of 1814 now claimed 



PKOPEKTT IN SLAVES DENIED. 203 

indemnity. Mr. Crawford, at that time Secretary of the Treasury, re- 
jected them. 

They were then sent to Congress, and committed in the House of 
Representatives to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which Mr. 
Archer, of Virginia, was chairman, and were rejected. But the claim- 
ants, nothing daunted, again had them referred, at the next Congress, 
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, at that time under the chairman- 
ship of Mr. Everett, of Massachusetts. This gentleman had voted to 
recognize property in human beings, and was an advocate of that dogma ; 
and although a representative from Massachusetts, he reported in favor 
of paying for these slaves, although they had been so often rejected. 
But the House did not sanction his report. 

Mr. "Woodbury coming into the office of Secretary of the Treasury, 
and having always subserved the interests of the institution, the claim- 
ants now applied to his department for indemnity ; and he, not doubting 
the validity of the claims, paid some thousands of dollars for their liqui- 
dation, when he learned the action which Mr. Crawford had taken in 
regard to them, and refused further payments. 

The claimants applied to Congress again, and had their cases referred 
to the Committee on Claims, while the author was a member §f that com- 
mittee. The practice then was to make no report on claims for slaves, 
in order to prevent agitation. 

At the next session, they were referred to the Committee on Terri- 
tories, of which the Hon. James Cooper, of Pennsylvania, was chairman, 
who reported a bill for their payment.* 

Mortified that the Committee on Territories should have thus reported 
in favor of such claims, the author went among his friends in the House, 
informed them of the character of the bill, and requested them to ex- 
amine the case and aid in defeating it if they should find it of the charac- 
ter represented. He was particularly urgent with some men of talents, 
who were in the habit of speaking in the House of Representatives ; but 
could' find no one willing to argue against the bill save Mr. Adams. 
Messrs. Slade and Gates would willingly have complied with the request, 
but Mr. Slade was in poor health, and Mr. Gates was unwilling to as- 
sume the character of a speaking member, as he had never practised 
addressing the House. In short, it was found that Mr. Adams and the 
author were to meet the slaveholding influence upon a question which, 



* The author was at that time chairman of the Committee on Claims, and informed Mr. Cooper 
that these cases were suspicious, and had been taken from the Committee on Claims for the reason 
that that Committee had refused to recognize them as valid. 



204 DECISION SAME AS IN 1828. 

in 1828, had been debated with more determination than had been mani- 
fested on any other question. 

When the bill came up for debate, the writer assailed it with such 
arguments as he could command. The chairman of the Committee on 
Territories, Mr. Cooper, on listening to his arguments, refused to sustain 
the bill which he had himself reported ; but a number of slaveholders 
spoke in its favor, occupying the remainder of the day, and the debate 
was postponed for two weeks. 

Mr. Adams became deeply interested, and sending to the Register of 
the Treasury, obtained a list of some ninety negroes, male and female, 
for whose bodies the people of the free States were now called on to 

pay 

When the bill came again before the House, the veteran statesman 
spoke with great earnestness and in his own peculiar manner. True, 
neither Mr. Adams nor Mr. Giddings could advance any new arguments 
after the very full discussion of 1828. The principal distinction between 
the arguments on that case and those now advanced consisted in the 
fact, that Messrs. Adams and Giddings pressed upon the consideration 
of members the moral character of slavery, and the circumstance that 
this claim ^as, to a certain extent, for females stolen by the army and 
the followers of the camp. But Mr. Adams seemed to carry the mem- 
bers with him, as he progressed with the argument, and never did the 
result of auy question more distinctly appear upon the countenances of 
members than on that occasion. 

When Mr. Adams closed there was a general call for the previous 
question, but the delegate from Florida desired to reply. He was lis- 
tened to attentively, but made no impression upon the House ; indeed, 
the overwhelming argumeut of Mr. Adams appeared to be rendered more 
irresistible by contrasting it with the feebleness of this reply. The vote 
was then taken on the bill, when only thirty-six members voted in sup- 
port of it. 

This was the second instance in winch the right of property in human 
beings was distinctly debated in the House of Representatives ; and 
although the argument was mainly confined to that subject, yet the con- 
struction of the treaty constituted a legitimate question, and undoubtedly 
was regarded by some members as a good reason for voting against the 
bill. Nor is it to be denied that the moral circumstances alluded to had 
weight with some members.* 

* Mr. Pickens, of South Carolina, came across the hall after this vote was taken, and, addressing 
his colleague, Mr. Campbell, who sat beside the author, said — "Why did you not vote for that 



EXECUTIVE SUPPORT OF SLAVE TRADE. 205 

Another incident occurred near the close of the session which further 
exhibited the willingness of northern statesmen to involve themselves and 
their constituents in the crime and disgrace of sustaining the slave trade. 

In a previous chapter the attention of the reader was called in general 
terms to the slave ships " Comet" and " Encomium," which were wrecked 
near the British West India islands, and the slaves became free by being 
carried under the jurisdiction of British laws. These were the first 
slaves lost in that manner for which indemnity was demanded. The claim 
was put forth under the administration of General Jackson, attended by 
indications that payment for the slaves must be made or a war would 
result from the refusal. But this result was probably more strongly im- 
plied from the character of President Jackson than from any particular 
language or other circumstance. But these losses occurred while slavery 
existed on all the British West India islands, and while that government 
•practically admitted the right of property in men. Under these circum- 
stances the British Ministry consented to pay some $15,000 for the 
benefit of slavedealers, whose crimes had been in some degree defeated 
by " the act of God" and the operation of British laws. 

In obtaining this money the President did not consult Congress. 
Nor did he ask of Congress to point out the mode for its distribution. 
He paid out all but four thousand dollars, for which no claimants 
appeared. This sum remained in President Van Buren's hands, and 
when he was about to retire from office, he paid it over to the Treasurer 
of the United States, who, without any authority, gave an official 
receipt for it. 

After the retirement of Mr. Van Buren the claimants called for the 
funds. 

The Treasurer, although he had received the money without any 
authority, now refused to pay it out, unless Congress would pass a law 
authorizing him to do so. 

Up to this point, the whole proceeding had been carried on by the 
Executive. He had placed our Government in the attitude of patron- 
izing this " traffic in slaves ;" and lent our national influence to the com- 
mission of crimes revolting to Christianity : But now the slavedealers 
applied to Congress to sustain them in obtaining the profits of their 
piratical vocation. 

Their petition was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, 
oo iposed of Messrs. Fillmore, of New York ; Botts, of Virginia ; Mason, 

bill. ' Mr. Campbell replied, "Why did you not vote for it?" Pickens said, "Because I was 
1 to do so." "Such was my case," said Mr. Campbell. Yet, while these advocates of 
slavery voted against the bill, members from New Hampshire sustained it. 



200 EFFORTS TO COMPROMISE. 

of Ohio; Wallace, of Indiana ; Marshall, of Kentucky ; I. R. Ingersoll, 
of Pennsylvania; Jones, of Virginia ; Atherton, of New Hampshire ; 
and Pickens, of South Carolina; and, so far as we are informed, they 
were unanimously in favor of taking this slavetrading transaction into 
the hands of Congress, and carrying out the system commenced by Gen- 
eral Jackson. 

, The majority of the committee were Whigs, and would have probably 
looked upon any other transaction of that functionary with suspicion. 
But this had relation to the slave trade, and few members were willing 
to oppose the proposition. 

The bill was reported by Mr. Fillmore, and merely authorized the 
Treasurer to pay over the money to the owners of the slaves in propor- 
tion to the number which each had lost. 

Having informed himself of the character of this bill, the writer 
went to Mr. Stanley, of North Carolina, who had the matter in charge, 
and in a friendly manner stated that the money was in the hands of the 
Treasurer without any legal authority ; and could be paid out without 
incurring any responsibility; but as he, Stanley, was anxious that his 
constituents should get the money, the writer would consent that the. bill 
should authorize the Treasurer to replace it in the hands of the Execu- 
tive, who would doubtless pay it over as the claimants desired. That this 
would not involve Congress in the odium of the transaction, in which the 
writer desired not to be involved, even by silently permitting the present 
bill to pass without opposition. 

Mr. Stanley declared the proposition honorable, and requested the 
author to draw up such a bill as he would consent to have passed. He 
did so ; Stanley carefully examined it, declared himself satisfied, and said 
when the bill came up he would accept it as a substitute for the original 
bill. 

This was done to the apparent satisfaction of all concerned, and the 
bill, thus amended, passed the House of Representatives. 

When it was taken up in the Senate, the original bill, as reported by 
the committee, was substituted for the bill which passed the House, 
and it came back in the precise form reported by the committee. Aston- 
ished at this. apparent violation of honor and good faith, Mr. Giddings 
at once went to Mr. Stanley for explanation, but obtained none what- 
ever. Under the circumstances, the author desired to express his oppo- 
sition to the bill when it should come up for consideration, so that no 
man would thereafter charge him with having silently consented to its 
passage. To this Mr. Stanley appeared to yield consent. 

When the bill came before the House, Mr. Stanley, having charge of 



LEGISLATIVE STRATEGY. 207 

it, was awarded the floor, and demanded the previous question. Mr. 
Giddings publicly requested him to withdraw the demand. He refused. 
Mr. Giddings demanded the yeas and nays on the passage of the bill, 
but Stanley exerted a commanding influence with the whig party, and 
the bill, from its character, drew to its support the slaveholders and 
democratic members, and the yeas and nays were refused. The ques- 
tion of concurring in the Senate's amendment was put and carried. 

Discovering the artifice used to prevent him from exposing the char- 
acter of the bill, Mr. Giddings felt perhaps too indignant, and being 
unwilling to be overreached in that way, at once moved a reconsidera- 
tion of the vote, and thus coming into legitimate possession of the floor, 
stated the deception to which he had been subjected. The bill, he said, 
was intended to compensate certain slavedealing constituents of Mr. 
Stanley for losses sustained in their vocation. He thanked God that 
he held his seat in that hall by no such votes, and was under no obliga- 
tions to piratical slavedealers ; protested against the whig party 
taking upon itself the odium of voting to sustain a commerce in human 
flesh.* He next exposed the character of the bill; showed that it was 
intended to sanction the act of General Jackson and lending the in- 
fluence of the nation to support a commerce in the bodies of men and 
women born and reared on American soil. That in doing this, General 
Jackson and his successor had acted without consulting Congress. 
That the President of this Republic had condescended to become the 
agent and solicitor of piratical slavedealers ; had disgraced the nation 
and Government by representing that it " fostered a traffic in the 
bodies and souls of Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and other 
professing Christians : That he obtained a large sum of money 
from England by falsely representing to the British Ministry that this 
Government, of which Congress constituted the legislative branch, 
regarded slaves as property, and paid for them as such when lost in the 
public service in time of war." He declared that the assertion was not 
only untrue, but asserted that the reverse was literally true. Our 
records (said he) show that in the only instances where this question 
has been raised or debated in the House of Representatives, the doc- 
trine asserted by our minister at London (Mr. Stevenson), has been 
repudiated. He made this charge of unmitigated falsehood upon that 

* Mr. Stanley exerted great influence with the whig party, of which Mr. Giddings was then a 
member. But in all his bearing and conduct Mr. Stanley exhibited an imperious contempt for 
the supporters of liberty. He was undoubtedly sincere in his opinions, but on this occasion mani- 
fested them in an offensive manner. Mr. Giddings felt at perfect liberty to utter his detestation 
of slavedealing and of slavedealers. The resuR was that these gentlemen never exchanged the 
ordinary civilities of social life afterwards. 






203 CHARGE OF FALSEHOOD. 

minister because he saw around him able statesmen representing the Old 
Dominion, of which our minister was a citizen, and knew that if this 
House had in any instances decided that slaves were property, or had 
paid for them as such, these representatives would find the record and 
convict him of misrepresentation. He challenged them to the contest, 
pronounced the doctrine " heathenish," and its assertion a libel upon Con- 
gress and upon the people of the nation. He would not be made a party to 
the falsehood nor to the doctrine ; nor would he permit his constituents 
to be involved in such infidelity to the precepts and doctrines of the 
founders of our Government ; such infidelity to the principles of 
justice. 

He asserted that he felt humbled, deeply humiliated, at looking 
around him and seeing two hundred and thirty American statesmen 
sitting in that hall gravely legislating in behalf of piratical slave- 
dealers, whose crimes had rendered them moral outlaws, unfit for human 
association, fit only for the gallows and the halter. Yet because the 
Executive and Senate had engaged in the support of this inhuman traffic, 
and had done all they could to commit the Government and nation to 
its support, and had failed to effect that object, members of the House 
were asked to approve these efforts by the passage of the bill. He 
would not be made the supple instrument of the President nor of design- 
ing slaveholders, though clothed with senatorial dignity. 

He stated that he was fully aware that a large majority of the House 
of Representatives were in favor of sustaining the doctrine of the 
Executive and of the Senate : that they had by an unauthorized and 
despotic assumption of power passed a vote of censure upon him for 
the expression of his opinions on the subject of the slave trade, and 
•proceeded at length to vindicate the doctrine that Congress had no con- 
stitutional power nor- just right to involve the people of the free States 
in a war for the support of the slave trade* 

IS T o member attempted to meet the doctrines put forth. Stanley 
was silent. Mr. Fillmore, who reported the bill, made no attempt to 
vindicate the principles involved. Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, replied, 
endeavoring to show that the money being in the treasury made Con- 

* These remarks were not reported in the "Congressional Globe," nor in any other paper. In 
the report of the proceedings, as they appeared the next morning, it was stated that Mr. Giddings 
occupied an hour on the subject, but no allusion was made even to the substance of his remarks. 
He, however, wrote them out, and obtained their publication in the Appendix to the " Congressional 
Globe." 

It is a matter of curiosity that Colonel Benton, while professing to give an accurate abridgment 
of all debates and proceedings in Congress, does not refer to this speech which appears in the 
Appendix of the "Globe;" nor to Mr. Cushing's ^eply, nor to any transaction connected with the 
bill referred to. 



THE VOTE. 



209 



gress trustees for its distribution, and that body was bound to distribute 
it, without looking back to the circumstances which brought it to the 
treasury.* 

After Mr. dishing concluded, the yeas and nays were ordered on the 
motion to lay the proposition to reconsider on the table, and it prevailed 
by a vote of HO to 38. 

The vote of the slave States was unanimously in the affirmative. 

That of the free States was divided as follows : 
Maine. Yea— Messrs. Allen, Clifford, Littlefield, Lowell, and 

Marshall, 5 

Nay— Messrs. Bronson, Fessenden, and Randall, ... 3 
New Hampshire. Yea— Messrs. Atherton, Burke, and Eastman, 3 

Not voting— Messrs. Redding and Shaw, 2 

Massachusetts. Yea — Messrs. Cushing, and Parmenter, . . 2 
Nay— Messrs. Winthrop, Hudson, Baker, Briggs, Cal- 
houn, Burnell, and Adams, f 

Absent — Messrs. Saltonstall, Hastings, and Borden, . . 3 

Rhode Island. Yea— Mr. Cranston, 1 

Absent — Mr. Tillinghast, 1 

Connecticut. Yea— Messrs. Osborn, and Boardmau, .... 2 
Nay— Messrs. Smith, Williams, and Brockway, .... 3 

Absent — Mr. Trumbull, X 

Vermont. Yea — none. 

Nay— Messrs. Hall, Slade, Young, and Mattocks, ... 4 

Absent — Mr. Everett, 1 

New York. Yea— Messrs. Charles A. Floyd, John G. Floyd, 
McKeon, Wood, Ferris, Davis, Clinton, McClellan, 
Herrick, Hunt, Barnard, Blair, Tomlinson, Sandford, 
Doig, Brewster, Bowne, Gordon, J. C. Clark, Riggs, 
Patridge, Foster, Fillmore, Oliver, Childs, and Young' 26 
Nay — Messrs. Linn, Staley N. Clark, Morgan, Granger, 

Birdsey, Chittenden, Van Rensalear, ? 

Absent— Messrs. Babcock, Egbert, Roosevelt, Ward, 

Gates, and Van Buren, . 6 

New Jersey. Yea — Mr. Aycrig, X 

Nay — Mr. Halstead, X 

Absent— Messrs. Randolph, Stratton, Maxwell, and York, 4 

• After Mr. Cushing's return home he published a letter, charging the author with misrepresen- 
tation in saying that members who supported thte bill sustained the slave trade. The authoi 
replied, showing very definitely the instances in which Mr. Cushing had su.. ::>.ined that traffic Mr. 
Cushing was defeated at the next election, and no more appeared in Congress. 

14 



N 



210 BREACH OF PRIVILEGE. 

Pennsylvania. Yea— Messrs. Charles Brown, Jeremiah Brown, 
C. I. Ingersoll, Toland, Fornance, Westbrook, Newkard, 
Keim, Gerry, Gustine, Bidlack, Snyder, Marchand, Bee- 
son, Plummer, W. W. Irwin, 16 

N a y_Messrs. Henry, McKennon, Ramsey, . . . : . 3 
Not voting— Messrs. Sergeant, James, Simonton, Cooper, 

Dimmock, Lawrence, Jack, and James Irwin, ... 8 
One vacancy. 
Ohio. Yea— Messrs. Pendleton, Weller, Mason, Doane, Morris, 

Medill, Mathews, Mathiot, Sweeney, Hastings, Dean, . 11 
Nay— Messrs. Andrews, Co wen, Giddings, Bidgeway, 

Bnssel, and Stokeley, 6 

Not voting — Messrs. Goode, and Morrow, 2 

Indiana. Yea — Messrs. Promt, and Thompson, 2 

Nay — Mr. Cravens, 1 

Not voting— Messrs. Lane, Kennedy, "Wallace, and White, 4 

Michigan. Absent— Mr. Howard, 1 

Illinois. Yea — Messrs. Casey, Stuart, and Reynolds, .... 3 

When the vote had been announced by the Speaker, Mr. Giddings 
rose to a question of privilege, and stated an occurrence which had taken 
place during the proceedings. 

He said : While speaking he had noticed several persons standing in 
front of the Clerk's desk, one of whom was Mr. Dawson, of Louisiana. 
That the moment he closed his remarks he was violently pushed by 
what appeared to be the elbow of a man pressing against his side ; and 
at the same instant Mr. Dawson passed him on his way from the 
outside towards the Clerk's desk. He approached from behind, and 
was neither heard nor seen until this manifestation of his displeasure. 
Recognizing him as he passed, he spoke in an undertone, but so 
loud as to be heard, saying "Dawson!" when that member turned 
around and seized the handle of a bowie-knife which partially pro- 
truded from his bosom, and immediately advanced towards the writer 
until within striking distance of his person. Looking him in the eye 
he said, "Did you push me in that rude manner ?" He answered, 
" Yes." " For the purpose of insulting me ?" " Yes," said Dawson, as 
he partially removed the knife from the scabbard. Mr. Giddings rejoined, 
" No gentleman will wantonly insult another. I have no more to say to 
you, but turn you over to public contempt as incapable of insulting an 
honorable man." 

By this time Mr. More, of Louisiana, and other members seized 
Dawson and took him from the hall. The writer stated to the House 



THE HOUSE FORBEARS ACTION. 211 

that he felt it due to the members of the body to lay these facts before 
them. That he should leave the matter at that point ; wishing it 
distinctly understood, that he asked no protection from the House, but 
left that body to protect its own dignity. 

Mr. A. H. H". Stuart, from Virginia, stated that he had noticed the 
appearance of Dawson while standing in front of the Clerk's desk 
apparently engaged in conversation with other members. That he kept 
his eye upon him as he left that place walking down the front aisle, when 
he lost sight of him until he came round and entered the small aisle in 
which Mr. Giddings was standing. .That from the appearance of 
Dawsou's countenance he apprehended an intention of violence. 

Mr. Wise and some other gentlemen expressed the opinion that Mr. 
Dawson intended no insult. 

Mr. Calhoun, of Massachusetts, insisted on reading the manual relat- 
ing to the privileges of members : and Mr. Adams inquired whether 
Dawson threatened to cut Mr. Giddings' throat from ear to ear as he 
had that of the gentleman from Tennessee ? alluding to an incident that 
occurred a few days previously when Mr. Arnold, of Tennessee, said 
something unpleasant to Mr. Dawson, who went to him, and in a low 
tone of voice assured Mr. Arnold that if he did not keep quiet he would 
" cut his throat from ear to ear." The matter of privilege was dropped 
at this point. Dawson had doubtless acted with the approbation of 
several members, who probably intended to try the experiment of 
threatening personal violence to deter members from the expression 
of their views : * but the public did not so regard it. Most men 
believed that Dawson intended to have drawn from the writer a blow 
which would have served as an excuse for assassination. The whole 
scene served to arouse in the public mind a feeling of disgust at the 
barbarous habits of our slaveholding population. 

Resistance to the despotism of slavery was of frequent occurrence 
during the twenty-seventh Congress. 

* Hon. David Lee Child, of Massachusetts, in a published letter written on the same day on 
wliich this scene occurred, says : 

" I was sitting in the gallery. I saw Dawson in the centre of the hall amidst a group of 
southern -members, all of whom were looking extremely wrathful, and one of them, as I am 
informed by a member, said, with an oath, ' I would like to cut off Giddings' ears.' In this 
excited group Dawson was conspicuous. Being intent on hearing, I did not follow him with the eye ; 
but it is stated by reporters and members that, when he entered the small aisle leading from the 
circular passage to the centre of the hall, he appeared intent upon some desperate action. Coming 
from the rear, Mr. Giddings could not of course see him ; and as he passed that gentleman he 
gave him a violent push, with his left elbow, while his right hand was fastened upon the haft of 
his bowie-knife ; but he soon turned round and slowly advanced towards Mr. Giddings, still holding 
his bowie-knife." 



212 MONSTER PETITION FKOM MASSACHUSETTS. 

Encouraged by the exposures made in Congress, the people of Massa- 
chusetts now sent a petition asking that body to pass such laws as would 
forever separate the people of the free States from the expense, and 
crime, and disgrace of supporting slavery, or the slave trade ? 

The petition was said to be signed by twenty thousand citizens of that 
State, and was forwarded to Mr. Adams for presentation. And on those 
days allotted to the presentation of petitions by the rules of the House, 
it was brought and placed upon the desk of the veteran statesman, who 
patiently awaited au opportunity for presenting it. The petition did not 
come under the twenty-first rule, and slaveholders and Democrats ap- 
peared greatly annoyed at seeing it ; and during the entire session they 
postponed by vote on each alternate Monday the presentation of petitions, 
in order as they said to prevent Mr. Adams from presenting the 
" monster petition." 

As the session drew to a close, Mr. Winthrop, from the Committee on 
Commerce, reported a series of resolutions declaring that the seizure of 
free colored citizens in any part of the United • States by the local 
authorities, is a violation of the rights of citizenship guaranteed by the 
Constitution. 

" That the seizure of colored persons on board the ships of other 
nations, is a violation of our treaty obligations." 

Mr. Winthrop asked the adoption of these resolutions. But Mr. 
Johnson, of Tennessee, moved to lay them on the table, and the motion 
prevailed by a vote of 86 to 59. 

In view of the approaching presidential election the friends of Mr. 
Calhoun established a paper at Washington City, with the admitted 
intention of bringing him before the nation as a candidate for the 
Presidency. It was called " The Spectator," and one of its avowed 
doctrines was, that the Federal Government was bound to support 
the institution of slavery in the States, and to extend it. 

This bold avowal was novel to the people of the North. Up to a 
recent period the publicly avowed doctrine had been that Congress had 
no light to interfere with slavery in the States. To this doctrine the 
.writer had at all times yielded approval : while Mr. Adams only objected 
to it, that in time of war, or insurrection, the Federal Government might 
interpose to abolish slavery if deemed necessary to peace. 

The intention of the leaders of the democratic party to render the free 
States subsidiary to the institution, was now becoming rapidly developed 
to the public view. They had been defeated at the last presidential 
election, principally because of the extravagant and wasteful expenditure 
of the public moneys. But the southern doctrine that governments were 



PLAN FOR ANNEXING TEXAS. 213 

not bound by the laws of justice and morality, had so far corrupted the 
statesmen and politicians of the country, that the Whi°-s as well as 
Democrats carefully avoided the enunciation of any primal doctrine or 
elementary truth as the basis of their organization, and were now greatly 
divided, while the union of southern slavery with northern democracy 
appeared to have been fully consummated. 

The first great movemeut of this now consolidated and powerful 
organization, was directed to the annexation of Texas : but no public 
avowal had as yet been made, and the great body of the northern people 
were ignorant of that conspiracy to break up the Union to which 
the American people were so much attached ; and bring into the 
political partnership a new slaveholding State of vastly extended 
territory, to wield an influence and power over the interests and honor 
of our northern people, not merely equal in proportion to their numbers, 
but far superior, as they would under the Constitution be clothed with 
political influence in proportion to the number of slaves they might 
hold in bondage, counting five slaves equal to three of our northern 
freemen. 

Mr. Adams possessed the means of obtaining perfect "knowledge of 
whatever transpired in their most secret councils. He assured his friends 
•that the effort to annex Texas was now to be made in good earnest • 
and as it was intended to strengthen, to extend and perpetuate the insti- 
tution of slavery, precisely to that extent would it diminish and strike 
down the liberties of the North. 

Having obtained satisfactory evidence of their intention, twenty mem- 
bers of Congress united in an address to the people of the free States, 
assuring them that the annexation of Texas was agreed upon by the 
statesmen and politicians of the slave States ; that the object and inten- 
tion was to extend, increase and perpetuate the institution of slavery • 
that it must involve us in a war with Mexico, for the support of an 
institution which all lovers of liberty detested ; that no act could be more 
dangerous than for a government to enter upon the conquest of territory 
to enlarge its power ; that a dissolution of the Union would not only 
result from this policy, but the act itself would be an abandonment of 
the Union which we then enjoyed, and the formation of a new one with 
foreign slaveholders. The address declared that no act of the Executive 
or of Congress, or of all the departments of Government, could impose 
upon the people of the free States any constitutional obligation to sub- 
mit to such a transfer, or to become subservient in any degree to the 
foreign slaveholders of Texas. This address was penned by Hon. Seth M. 
Gates, and was signed by John Quincy Adams, Seth M. Gates, William 



214 PROTEST OF TWENTY MEMBERS. 

Slade, William B. Calhoun, Joshua R. Giddings, Sherlock J. Andrews, 
Nathaniel B. Borden, Thomas C. Chittenden, John Mattocks, Christo- 
pher Morgan, Jacob M. Howard, Victory Birdsey, Thomas Tomlinson, 
Staley N. Clark, Charles Hudson, Archibald L. Linn, Thomas W. 
Williams, Truman Smith, David Bronson, George K Briggs. 

It was published at the close of Congress in the " National Intel- 
ligencer," and was generally copied into the whig papers of the North. 

During the session the writer had received resolutions of thanks, votes 
of approval, and congratulatory addresses from public meetings and 
various societies in nearly every free State of the Union, for the doc- 
trines which he had avowed in Congress, for the steadfastness and firm- 
ness with which he had maintained them. Mr. Adams had probably 
received a much greater number. These taken in the aggregate 
showed that at least individuals and societies and public meetings 
in the free States were engaged in arousing the people to thought and 
action : 

Lecturers were also travelling and speaking in all the free States ; 
"The Emancipator," "The Liberator," and "The Philanthropist," 
were at that time anti-slavery papers, ably conducted, and earnest in the 
advocacy of the doctrines of freedom. 

1843 The President had been elected by the whig party, without * 

any avowal of doctrines in regard to slavery. He was a slave- 
holder, and by force of education, interest and inclination now united 
his fortunes with the democratic party, for the purpose of annex- 
ing Texas to the Union. And as had been foretold, the work of con- 
summating that outrage was commenced on the 8th May, by the dispatch 
of Mr. Upshur, our Secretary of State, to our "Charge de Affairs" in 
Texas. The fact that Brougham had declared in the House of Lords 
that " the abolition of slavery in Texas would cut off the marled for 
slaves now sent from the slave-breeding States of the Union to Texas, and 
thereby tend to the abolition of slavery in the States," was cited by the 
Secretary as an incident of an " alarming character ;" and he declared 
that a letter had been received from a distinguished citizen of Maryland 
(Gen. Duff Green), saying that "slavery would be abolished in Texas 
within the next ten years, and probably within half that time, unless it 
were annexed to the United States." Under these circumstances, our 
Charge de Affairs, Mr. Murphy, was directed to consult the authorities 
of Texas as to their disposition in regard to annexation. 

Mr. Upshur nor the President appeared to entertain any doubt as to 
the duty of our Federal Government to support the coastwise slave 
trade and slavery in the States. 



THE MEANING OF THE TREATY OF GHENT. 215 

It should also be borne in mind that neither the statesmen, nor the 
politicians, nor the people, at that time appeared to be conscious that 
we had pledged ourselves in the treaty of Ghent to exert our influence 
for the entire abolition of " the traffic in slaves." But when this solemn 
covenant was referred to in the House of Representatives, slaveholders 
said it only had reference to the African slave trade. But that construc- 
tion was denied by Mr. Adams, who was one of the signers of the treaty. 
He assured the House and the country that the treaty meant just what 
the language imported — " the traffic in slaves ;" that it was intended to 
abolish the crime, making no distinction as to the place of committing it. 



216 "THE SWISS GTJAEDS OF SLAVERY." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

MR ADAMS' VIEWS OF THE GOVERNMENT DEFEAT OF THE TREATY ANNEX- 
ING TEXAS CHARACTER OF CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES. 

At the assembling of the twenty-eighth Congress the sup- 
porters of slavery continued to exhibit great hostility towards 
those who were endeavoring to establish a line of demarkation between 
the Federal Government and that institution. 

Messrs. Slade and Gates had been unfaltering in their devotion to 
justice and liberty. By their high moral bearing and assiduity they 
had commanded the respect of all who admired freedom ; but they 
had retired from Congress, their seats were filled by new and un- 
tried members, and Mr. Adams and the humble individual now engaged 
in writing these memoirs were left to contend against a degree of arro- 
gance, despotism and persecution not easily appreciated by men of the 
present day. 

The past services, the high moral and social position of Mr. Adams, 
enabled him to bid defiance to those who sought by every means which 
they deemed available to affect his influence ; but the author was placed 
under very different circumstances. Slaveholders and those northern 
members at that time characterized as " the Swiss guards of slavery," 
determined on his political and social ostracism. At "Washington he 
continued to be stigmatized as an " abolitionist," " an agitator," " one 
who was seeking notoriety." Public meetings of the democratic party 
adopted resolutions denouncing him ; and democratic papers assailed 
him. Nor did the whig press sustain him. He did not receive those 
civilities usually extended to members of Congress : He exchanged 
cards with but few ; and wholly abstained from making calls of 
ceremony. 

Having long served as chairman of the Committee on Claims, he was 
removed from that post, and assigned to the seventh position in the 
Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, which having no business did not 
meet. It was under these depressing circumstances that the author 
resumed the duties which lay before him. His venerable coadjutor, Mr. 
Adams, was seventy-six years of age. His hand was palsied and trem- 
bling : his voice was somewhat feeble and broken, his movements 



ME. ADAMS DESPONDS. 21'i 

denoted age ; but his intellect appeared unimpaired, while his anxiety for 
his country and his race increased. Although more depressed in spirit 
than he had previously been, he declared there was but one course for 
public men, that was to " do their duty." Early in the session he moved 
the appointment of a committee to report a code of rules for the govern- 
ment of the House : his motion was sustained ; he was of course ap- 
pointed chairman, and made a report omitting the obnoxious twenty-first 
rule. The debate on this report occupied the morning hour for some 
weeks. During the discussion he was often assailed ; but, in violation 
of the practice usually observed, he was not recognized by the Speaker 
as entitled to the floor for reply. Yet his juniors in service and in years 
constantly assailed him with unexampled bitterness. The author had 
abstained from attempting to speak as courtesy, and parliamentary 
usage seemed to assign the floor to Mr. Adams. 

This state of things had continued for two weeks, when one morning 
the writer entered the hall a little before the hour of meeting. He found 
Mr. Adams already in his seat, but laboring under greater depression 
than at any previous day. His appearance indicated the want of sleep. 
He said his health was good ; but declared that he had become nervous 
and unable to sleep. He spoke most feelingly, declaring that our Gov- 
ernment had become the most perfect despotism of the Christian world : 
avowed himself physically disqualified to contend longer for the floor : 
said he must leave the vindication of the report which he had made to 
the author, as duty to himself forbade further attempts on his part. He 
said he had indulged the hope of living to see the " gag-rule repealed," 
but he now regarded it as doubtful. 

The author was thus left alone to contend in favor of the report 
which Mr. Adams had made. In the course of a few clays he obtained 
an opportunity of speaking, and so far as able discharged the duty so 
strongly impressed upon his mind by Mr. Adams. 

It was during this debate that an incidental remark was made by 
Mr. Adams, that was often quoted in subsequent years. Mr. 
Dillett, of Alabama, a man of age and of talents above the mediocrity 
of members, was speaking upon this report. Like other Representatives 
from the South, he appeared anxious to assail Mr. Adams. He held in 
his hand the report of a speech delivered by the object of his assault to 
the colored people of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. From this he read the 
following passage : " We know that the day of your redemption must 
come. The time and the manner of its coming we know not : It may 
come in peace, or it may come in blood ; but, whether in peace, or in 
blood, let it come." Having read this sentence, he invoked attention to 



218 A SOLEMN INVOCATION. 

it, and in order that all might appreciate it, he read it a second time ; 
and as his voice died away, Mr. Adams, in his seat, with peculiar em- 
phasis, added, " I say now, let, it come." Dillett, apparently indignant at 
what he regarded the audacity of Mr. Adams, added, " Yes, the gentle- 
man now says let it come, though it cost t/ie blood of thousands of white 
men." To which Mr. Adams rejoined : " Though it cost the blood of 
millions of white men, let it come : Let justice be done though the 
heavens fall." 

These words rose from the lips of the aged patriot like the prayer of 
faith from one of heaven's anointed prophets : A sensation of horror 
ran through the ranks of the slaveholders : Dillett stood apparently 
lost in astonishment, and all were silent and solemn until the Speaker 
awoke members to the subject before them by declaring the gentleman 
from Massachusetts was out of order. 

The report of Mr. Adams, after occupying the morning hour for 
four weeks, was laid on the table by a small majority. 
1844 , A colored man named William Jones was imprisoned in the jail 

at Washington under suspicion that he was a fugitive slave. He 
found means to send a petition to the author, stating that he was a free 
citizen of the United States, born in Virginia, and while residing in 
Washington City, and demeaning himself peacefully and kindly towards 
his fellow-men, and without any charge of crime or offence he had been 
seized and imprisoned, and after considerable expense had been incurred, 
which he was unable to pay, he was advertised for sale to meet the costs 
thus unjustly incurred. He asserted that he had no owner but God, and 
owed no allegiance but to his country. He prayed Congress to protect 
him in the enjoyment of his liberty. The petition being presented, the au- 
thor moved its reference to the Committee on the Judiciary. The presen- 
tation of this petition from one presumed by southern laws and southern 
men to be a slave created some sensation ; but there was no display of 
ruffianism on the occasion, no attempt to censure the member presenting 
the memorial, no display of bowie-knives, no indications of personal vio- 
lence. Indeed, the petition was respectfully received, but the debate 
upon it was postponed until the following day, when Mr. Saunders, of 
North Carolina, declared that the law in all slave States presumed every 
colored person a slave that could not prove his freedom : that such was 
the law of the District of Columbia, and respect for those laws demanded 
the instant rejection of the petition. 

To this it was replied, that no such presumption could be just or rea- 
sonable, or in accordance with the Constitution : that it was nothing 
more nor less than a mode of enslaving free persons, and was piratical 



THE NAYY MAINTAINS THE SLAVE TRADE. 219 

in its character. Messrs. Adams, of Massachusetts; Stetsan, Davis, and 
Beardsley, of New York; and Giddings, of Ohio, spoke in favor of the 
motion, which was strenuously opposed by Messrs. Saunders, of North 
Carolina; Campbell, of South Carolina: Cobb and Stephens,- of Georgia; 
McConnel and Payne, of Alabama; and A. V. Brown, of Tennessee. 
But the motion was sustained by a vote of 75 to 40. 

The committee were proslavery in character, and made no report 
on the memorial, which, like all others touching slavery, was entombed 
in the document rooms of the House of Reoresentatives.* 

A debate arose during the early part of this session upon the " home 
squadron," which developed to the public view the employment of Uni- 
ted States vessels in the nefarious work of pursuing and capturing fugi- 
tive slaves who attempted to flee from Florida and from Georgia to the 
British West India Islands. It appeared that the administration was 
keeping this " home squadron" principally upon the lookout for the re- 
lief of slave ships employed in transporting human cargoes around the 
peninsula of Florida to the New Orleans market, so that in case of ship- 
wreck the slaves need not be taken to British islands. Thus, while one 
portion of our navy was engaged in putting down the slave trade on the 
African coast, another portion was employed in maintaining it on the 
American coast. 

This employment of our navy in the disgraceful work of chasing down 
fugitive slaves created disgust among the people, who entertained a laud- 
able pride in the glory of our naval victories in former times. 

On the same day Mr. Adams presented a petition from some two hun- 
dred and twenty citizens of Washington County, Illinois, praying Con- 
gress to acknowledge the Christian religion, by securing to the people of 
the United States the right to enjoy life, liberty, and happiness. 
The petition excited much debate. Mr. Adams, with great force, 
urged that statesmen and governments were bound by the precepts 
of the Gospel " to do unto others as they would have others do 
unto them," precisely as individuals in private life were bound to treat 
their fellow-men. Southern members were quite indignant at the doc- 
trine ; insisting that slavery nor the slave trade constituted a a iolation 
of the Christian religion. The petition was, after full debate, laid on 
the table. 

Mr. Adams also presented a petition numerously signed by citizens of 
New York, praying such amendments of the Constitution and laws of 

* Colonel Benton, in his Abridgment of Congressional Debates, passed over this entire discus- 
sion without even referring to it. 



220 PETITION FOE AMENDING TIIE CONSTITUTION. 

the United States, as were necessary to separate the Government and 
people of the free States from all support of slavery, which, on motion 
of Mr. Adams, was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, after full 
debate, by a vote of 9*1 to 80. 

Prom incidents which now occurred almost daily, it became evident 
that the twenty-first rule of the House was rapidly becoming inoperate 
and obsolete. 

By repeated declarations in the House of Representatives, the public 
mind. had been directed to that feature of the Federal Constitution which 
gives to the people of the slave States influence in the Federal Go- 
vernment in proportion to the number of slaves which they hold in 
bondage, counting five slaves equal to three freemen. All saw that 
it did not operate in favor of the slaves, but only enabled the mas- 
ters to rivet their chains more firmly. The people of the North had 
submitted to it quite cheerfully so long as those of the South per- 
mitted the subject of slavery to remain without agitation ; but now 
they felt that justice to the North required an amendment of the 
Constitution in this respect ; and the Legislature of Massachusetts 
adopted an able memorial calling on Congress so to amend the Con- 
stitution as to give equal rights and equal privileges to the free people of 
all the States. 

Mr. Adams presented the petition and moved its reference to a select 
committee, which was ordered, after debate, and Messrs. Adams, of 
Massachusetts; Rhett, of South Carolina; I. R. Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania; 
Gilmer, of Virginia; Davis, of Kentucky; Burke, of New Hampshire; 
Morse, of Maine; Sample, of Indiana, and Giddings, of Ohio, were 
appointed, Mr. Adams being chairman. 

The question was important, and the proceedings of the committee 
were conducted with great solemnity. The arguments for and against 
the proposition were advanced with much apparent sincerity, and the 
most perfect decorum was observed by every member. 

The first question propounded to the committee was on the adoption 
of a resolution declaring it inexpedient at that time for the House of 
Representatives to recommend such an amendment of the Constitution. 
This was unanimously agreed to : and the chairman was directed to 
draw up a report to that effect. This was done, and every member met 
promptly at the appointed time to hear it read. 

It was drawn with consummate ability : declaring that the provision 
of the Constitution which gives the enslavers of mankind superior influ- 
ence and superior privileges in the G overnmeut to those enjoyed by the 



A CHRISTIAN GOVEKNMENT. 221 

supporters of liberty " is opposed to the vital principles of republican 
representation ; to ' the self-evident truths ' of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence ; to the letter and spirit of the Constitution itself ; to the letter 
and spirit of the constitutions of almost all the States of the Union ; to 
the liberties of the whole people of the free States ; and to all that portion 
of the people of the slave States other than the owners of slaves ; that 
this is its essential and unextinguishable character in principle : and that 
its fruits in its entire practical operation upon the Government correspond 
with that character •." 

These propositions were enforced with all that logic and terseness of 
expression for which its author was distinguished. He then proceeded 
to show that "the self-evident truths" of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence were nothing more nor less than the essential doctrines of the Gos- 
pel, which teach that equal justice to all men should govern the conduct 
of every individual, whether acting in a private or public capacity : that 
this principle constitutes the chief corner stone of all republican 
governments, as well as of all Christian organizations. 

The report asserts that " the Declaration of Independence constituted a 
sacred pledge in the name of God, solemnly given by each State, to 

ABOLISH SLAVERY SOON AS PRACTICABLE, AND TO SUBSTITUTE FREEDOM IN 
ITS PLACE." 

It asserts that slavery is opposed to all the teachings of the Gospel ; 
is at war with God's attribute of justice, and should be eradicated from 
the earth.* 

It was at once seen that while Mr. Aclams agreed that the time for 
recommending a change of the Constitution had not arrived, yet the doc- 
trines enunciated and the process by which he arrived at his conclusion 
were in all respects calculated to arouse a spirit in the American 
people that would be likely to effect that change at some future day. Mr. 
Adams and the author signed this report : while Messrs. Morse, Sam- 
ple, and Burke each drew his own report. Messrs. Davis and Inger- 
soil signed another, and Messrs. Gilmer and Rhett another. They are 
not diffusive, but in the aggregate they constitute a volume which may 
well interest the student of our political history. 

The memorial and resolves, of the Legislature of Massachusetts were 
also presented in the Senate, where they were denounced "as resolutions 
to i i -solve the Union :" and the usual courtesy paid to resolutions of State 
Legislatures was refused : they were laid on the table, but the motion 
to print them was rejected. 

* Thia is believed to be the first official document placed in the national archives after the peti- 
tion of Dr. Franklin in 1790 which in words asserts that religious truth constitutes iho basis of 
human governments. 



222 CUBAN PIRATES TO BE COMPENSATED. 

A few days subsequently Mr. Berrien, of Georgia, presented resolu- 
tions from that State in opposition to any change of the Constitution 
which might take from the slave States the right of slave representation. 
These, resolutions were respectfully laid on the table and ordered to be 
printed, Mr. Bates, Senator from Massachusetts, called attention to 
this difference in the respect shown to different States ; but neither he 
nor any other Senator proposed to correct the gross insult thus offered 
to the State of Massachusetts. 

The circumstances relating to the slave ship " Amistad" and the 
captives on board, were laid before the reader in a previous chap- 
ter. But at this session, Hon. Charles I. Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, 
chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, made a long report, 
assailing the decision of the Supreme Court declaring those Africans 
free, and recommending an appropriation from the public treasury of 
fifty thousand dollars to compensate the Cuban slavedealers for the loss 
of their victims. Having made the report, he moved J to print ten thou- 
sand extra copies to be circulated among the people, with the obvious 
intention to prepare the public mind to support the slave trade. The 
author opposed the motion ; and endeavored in a short speech to demon- 
strate Mr. IngersolFs errors of fact and of law : and to hold up his 
policy to the odium of the country. Mr. Giddings stated that as a na- 
tion we had pronounced those engaged in the slave trade "pirates" un- 
worthy to live ; but he denied that they were more guilty than those 
members of Congress who encouraged their accursed vocation ; or those 
who attempted to reconcile the public conscience to that aggregation of 
all the baser crimes which disgrace human nature. 

The author's friends were alarmed at the severity of his remarks ; but 
he was perfectly aware that Mr. Adams would reply to Mr. Ingersoll ; 
and would not fail to vindicate his position. Mr. Ingersoll himself 
appeared to understand, that the man whom he most dreaded would 
follow him : for, 'instead of attempting to answer the remarks of Mr 
Giddings, he yielded the floor to Mr. Weller, of Ohio, who moved to 
lay the motion on the talk; and Mr. Ingersoll himself voted to con- 
sign his own motion to that common receptacle of discarded proposi- 
tions. 

The address of the twenty members of Congress, to the people of the 
free States, mentioned in the preceding chapter, called up the attention 
of the Mexican government to the conspiracy then being formed in the 
United States for dismembering that Republic. The Mexican Executive, 
on receipt of this intelligence, notified the President that Texas was 
a revolted province, which the government of Mexico was endeavoring 



SENILITY EEVEKENCED. 223 

to bring back to its allegiance by force of arms ; and that its annexation 
to the United States must of necessity carry with it the state of hostili- 
ties in which Texas was ensued. 

The President, in the meantime, proceeded with all possible activity 
to arrange and perfect a treaty of annexation with the authorities of 
Texas. This was of course unknown to the people of the free States 
until it had been signed. Nor did the President in his Annual Message 
intimate such intention ; but referred to the notice which the Executive 
.had received from the government of Mexico, in regard to existing 
hostilities between her and Texas, and spoke of the action of the Mexi- 
can government as founded upon " newspaper reports ;" while at the same 
time he entered upon an elaborate argument in favor of the proposed 
annexation, asserting, that it would not disturb the peaceful relations then 
existing between Mexico and the United States. 

But the address of Mr. Adams and other members of Congress 
had gone forth to the people, was yet before the public, and 
it was deemed necessary to counteract the impression which it was 
apparently making upon the public mind. Immediately on the ap- 
pearance of that address, Hon. Aaron Y. Brown, of Tennessee, 
wrote General Jackson upon the subject, asking his opinion of the 
policy. 

The venerable ex-President had in former times been the acknowledged 
oracle of the democratic party ; but was now spending the fading 
twilight of his earthly existence at the Hermitage in Tennessee. 
Understanding what was wanted, he wrote Mr. Brown, urging the 
immediate annexation of Texas, lest England should obtain it, and 
saying, "it will be a strong iron Jvoop around the Union, and a bul- 
wark to hold it. together ;" and this utterance of senility, without 
fact, argument or reason to sustain it, was published to the world, 
under the democratic announcement " that it was 'a legacy of the greatest 
living statesman, permitted by Heaven to advise his countrymen in the hour 
of their necessity." 

But this dictum of mental decrepitude had far greater effect among the 
southern Lazaroni who could neither read nor write, than it had among 
the educated laborers of the free States, where many of the democratic 
party hesitated, and some refused to follow the suggestions of their 
southern leaders. 

To reconcile conflicting opinions, it was proposed to adopt the general 
policy, of obtaining territory wherever it was to be had ; and as we were 
holding a joint occupation with the British government of Oregon, a 
fair opportunity was presented for extending our exclusive jurisdiction 



224 TREATY WITH TEXAS. 

over it. This proposition appeared to reconcile most northern Democrats 
to the policy of annexing Texas.* 

The Executive therefore renewed diplomatic correspondence with the 
British government for the settlement of our territorial boundaries in 
Oregon. Feeling somewhat bound by the action of Mr. Van Buren, his 
predecessor, he proposed to establish the line upon the 49th parallel of 
latitude ; but the proposition was rejected and the negotiation failed. 

AVith Texas the President was more successful. The Mexican gov- 
ernment had entered a decree abolishing slavery in all its intendancies : 
to resist this progress of civilization, adventurers from our slave States, 
had gone to that territory and raised the standard of resistance. For 
years they shed their blood, and spent their substance in efforts to con- 
tinue the barbarous institution of African bondage ; and now were not 
unwilling to have the United States fight their battles and defray the 
expenses of the further prosecution of this war for slavery. 

Preparatory to entering upon the subject, the President had dismissed 
Mr. Webster from the office of Secretary of State, and appointed Mr. 
Upshur, of Virginia, and upon his death, had placed Mr. Calhoun in 
that important position, with the apparent purpose not only of secur- 
ing the annexation of Texas, but at the same time to obtain the confi- 
dence of the democratic party, to whom he now looked for a reelection 
to the Chief Magistracy. 

.. Under these circumstances, he easily effected such a treaty as 

he desired, and in due season transmitted it to the Senate for 
ratification, felicitating himself with the expectation that a lasting fame 
would attach to this addition of a vast territory to our Union. 

But this contest for anticipated glory was subjected to unexpected 
difficulty. Mr. Benton of the Senate resisted the approval of the treaty. 
He had been the early and distinguished friend of Texas, but he de- 
nounced the injustice of making the Rio Grande the southern and 
western boundary of that State, as it would embrace a large part of 
New Mexico, including " Santa Fe" its capital, as well as large por- 
tions of Chiuana and Coahuila, with some of their most populous towns 
and villages, and more than two hundred thousand square miles of 
territory to which Texas had no claim whatever. And secondly, he 
insisted that as Texas was engaged in civil war with Mexico, the Senate 
did not possess the constitutional authority to involve the nation in that 
war by annexing Texas to the Union. These objections prevailed, and 
the treaty was rejected. 

* This statement is founded upon the assertion of leading Democrats made in public debate on 
the Oregon question during the first session, twenty-ninth Congress. 



MR. WEBSTER AND THE WHIG PARTY. 225 

But the President, apparently undismayed, intently pursued his pur- 
pose. Soon as the Senate rejected the treaty, he transmitted a 
message to the House of Representatives stating such rejection and 
urging upon that body the great importance of uniting Texas to the 
Union ; suggested that it might be affected by joint resolution, which 
could pass tho Senate by a bare majority, while it required two-thirds 
to confirm the treaty. 

From this time until the close of the session the annexation of Texas 
was debated, both in the Senate and House of Representatives. The 
documents, including all the correspondence on the subject, had been 
transmitted to the Senate with the treaty, and were published by order 
of that body. 

Leading members of the democratic party sustained the positions 
assumed by the Executive, that it was necessary to unite Texas to the 
Union in order to preserve slavery therein ; that unless annexed the 
institution would be blotted from existence ; and the emancipated popu- 
lation of Texas would endanger the institution in the United States. 
They boldly insisted that the Constitution had "guaranteed slavery to 
the South," and quoted the letter of Mr. Webster, to our Minister at 
London, heretofore noticed as high authority on the subject : and the 
doctrine enunciated in the resolutions of Mr. Calhoun in the Senate of 
1840, for which Mr. Webster and other Whig Senators dared not vote, 
and had not the manliness to oppose, were now quoted as precedents of 
high authority ; inasmuch as they had been subsequently referred to 
by distinguished statesmen, in order to sustain the coastwise slave 
trade. To discard these doctrines would constitute a repudiation of Mr. 
Webster, and must offend his personal friends and admirers : to sustain 
them would of course drive from the party all who believed the Govern- 
ment and Constitution were ordained to sustain freedom. The highest 
policy of the whig party, consisted in suppressing, so far as possible, 
all examination of Mr. Webster's opinions on this and kindred subjects. 

The presidential election was approaching. Mr. Webster —g^ 
was an aspirant for that office. Mr. Clay was also looking for 
the nomination of the whig party. He was a slaveholder, and it was 
perfectly apparent that the assertion of any primal truth, or elementary 
principle of government, would divide the whig party. 

That organization now found itself paralized by the doctrines of Mr. 
Webster, and the condition of Mr. Clay ; and then' failure in the approach- 
ing canvass was foreseen by all reflecting statesmen and politicians. 

The real position of Mr. Adams and the author became obvious. Mr. 
Giddings continued to adhere to the whig party, a.d unhesitatingly 

15 



226 mr. benton's plan fok annexation. 

announced his own doctrines as those of that organization. He avowed 
his determination to oppose any candidate who would involve the people 
of the free States in the support of slavery, or of the coastwise slave 
trade. Mr. Adams, however, continued to maintain an entire independ- 
ence of all political parties, laying down no specific platform of political 
faith, but sustaining or objecting to measures as they came before him 
for official action. 

1844 ^ r - Benton had introduced a bill into the Senate providing 

for the annexation of Texas ; and in urging its passage he enter- 
ed upon a history of the efforts put forth to. obtain the treaty of annex- 
ation, and assuming to himself the principal merit of the preparatory 
movements, denounced Mr. Brown, of Tennessee, with " having been 
charged with some vicarious enterprise against him" when addressing 
General Jackson on the subject : And for a time the course of Mr. 
Benton appeared likely to defeat the entire object.* 

But the leaders of that party were usually fortunate in avoiding all 
difficulty arising among its members. Mr. Yan Buren had been the 
candidate of the party, and was defeated in 1840. He was au able man 
and had ever yielded to the interests of the South ; but unfortunately 
for himself, had expressed an opinion that the Constitution had made no 
provision for annexing a foreign government to ours. It therefore be- 
came necessary to overcome the influences which were operating in favor 
of his nomination : to reconcile these conflicting interests required the 
exercise of all the tact and skill of the slave power. 

The Legislatures of Mississippi and of other democratic States adopt- 
ed resolutions in favor of uniting Texas to the Union. Memorials from 
the people, and proceedings of primary meetings in favor of that measure, 
were forwarded to Congress, and " annexation" became the watchword 
of the party : And no man was regarded as in full fellowship, and en- 
titled to its confidence unless he were able to pronounce that " Shiboleth" 
of the slaveholders. 

The parties held their nominating conventions in the month of May, 
and the Democrats announced their inteution to obtain Oregon and 
Texas as a part of their distinctive policy ; and nominated Hon. James 
K. Polk, of Tennessee, as their candidate. The Whigs, as was expected, 
nominated Mr. Clay as their leader ; but neither party proclaimed any 
moral truth or essential principle as the basis of their claims for sup- 
port. 

* Many believed that Mr. Benton, as well as Mr. Tyler, aspired to the office of President, upon 
the fame which was then expected by him who should exert the most efficient means for bringing 
In Texas as one of the States of tbe American Union. 



DIFFERENT CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION. 227 

And now "the Lone Star of Texas" was seen on every flag of the 
democratic organization. In the North, "Oregon" was proclaimed 
as an object of political desire ; while it was but seldom if ever 
named in the South. But the doctrines of Mr. Calhoun, endorsed by 
Mr. Webster, were urged by public speakers at every convention of that 
party. Northern Democrats now listened to public speakers in the 
northern States, who reiterated the doctrines avowed by Mr. Calhoun 
and repeated by Mr. Webster, " that the Constitution had guaranteed 
slavery to the South." 

In this way the democracy of the North were educated and fl844 
instructed in the belief, that the people of the. free States were 
under constitutional obligations to sustain slavery and the coastwise slave 
trade. Nor was this education confined to the democratic party. Whig 
presses proclaimed Mr. Webster to be " the expounder of the Constitu- 
tion :" They insisted that the people were bound to adopt the views of 
distinguished men as the doctrines of the Constitution. Public 
speakers ridiculed the idea that men in the ordinary walks of life were 
capable of understanding that instrument, and they insisted that the 
Supreme Court of the United States constituted the tribunal of dernier 
ressort for construing the Constitution ; and that their decisions 
were binding upon all departments of the Government aud upon the 
people. 

The anti-slavery men insisted that the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence and the framers of the Constitution intended the Govern- 
ment should uphold liberty and not slavery : That those instruments 
were framed for that purpose, and that the people had a perfect right, 
and it was their duty to elect to office men who would wield the influence 
and power of the Government for freedom and justice, and against slavery 
and oppression : That the people, having framed the Constitution and 
having adopted it, possess the sole power to change or alter it; may elect to 
office men who hold to the popular construction of that instrument ; and 
that such officer when elected, would, in good faith and honor, be bound to 
carry out that construction on which he had been elected : That the Presi- 
dent may be elected for the reason that he differs from the Supreme Court ; 
and when elected he would be bound to appoint judges who agreed 
with him in doctrine, whenever vacancies occur ; while the judges of 
the Court are bound to give that construction which their judgments 
dictate, and their final decrees are binding only upon parties, and upon 
privies in interest and privies in blood. The Whigs lost much influence 
by efforts to sustain their position, the popular mind being agaiust their 
doctrine. 



228 BLAVEHOLDING DOCTRINES EXPOSED. 

Bnt the author having been publicly censured in Congress for deny- 
ing that any right existed in the Federal Government to involve 
the people of the free States in support of the slave trade, or 
slavery, and having been specifically instructed by his constituents to 
maintain this position, he felt neither hesitation nor delicacy in 
carrying out his instructions ; and perhaps he can give no better 
description of the spirit in which his doctrines were asserted, and 
that in which they were received, than by the following extracts from 
a speech delivered on the 21st of May, 1844 : "Mr. G ladings said, 
I feel constrained, Mr. Speaker, to bestow a passing notice upon the 
position assumed by the advocates of annexation, that the Federal Gov- 
ernment has guaranteed slavery to the southern Stales of this Union. 
With all due respect for their talents and learning I may be permitted 
to deny that any guaranty whatever in regard to slavery is found in 
the Constitution ! When the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Belser) 
asserted this doctrine the other day, I inquired where it was to be 
found ? He first said he found it in common sense ; but not satisfied 
with that reference, he said it was found in common justice ; but finally 
said it was in the Constitution ! I inquired in what part of the Con- 
stitution ? He replied that he had not then time to find it ! I will 
now pause that he may inform the committee of the section and article 
in which it may be seen ? (Mr. Belser sat in silence in his seat, and 
after a pause Mr. Giddings continued.) 

" I was fully aware when I propounded the question, that he had not 
time then to find this important guaranty : I was conscious that he 
would not have time during the hour allotted me to find it. And now 
I say to the gentleman and to this committee that his lifetime will be too 
short to find it ; nay, Mr. Chairman, eternity will not disclose it, for it 
does not exist. Yet, sir, this senseless jargon ; this constant repetition 
concerning the ' constitutional guarantees of slavery ' is daily sounding 
in our ears. It is put forth by men of character, and those high in 
office. Sir, I take this occasion to repeat my assertion that no such 
stipulation exists or ever did exist in that instrument. And standing 
here in the presence of so many learned and able statesmen of the 
South, many of whom have repeated the unfounded assumption, I now 
call upon any one or all of them to refer me to any such covenant or 
stipulation in the Constitution ! " 

Mr. Brengle, of Maryland, stated, that at the formation of the Con- 
stitution slavery existed in most of the States, and slaves were regarded 
as property, and in that light were the subject of protection as much as 
other property. 



GUARANTY OF SLAVERY REFUTED. 229 

Mr. Giddings. " "Will the gentleman point me to the section in which 
I may find this guaranty ?" 

Mr. Brengle. " I don't refer to any section in particular, but to the 
whole instrument." (Laughter.) 

Mr. Giddings. " Well, Mr. Chairman, I have finally chased this 
notable guaranty into the region of southern abstractions ; but, I 
declare, I never came so near finding it before. (A laugh.) But the 
gentleman is entirely mistaken when he supposes that the convention 
which framed the Constitution regarded slaves as property. That 
instrument, in every instance in which it refers to slaves, characterizes 
them as 'persons,' and not as property." 

Mr. Belser was a young member, and appeared somewhat mortified at 
having advanced doctrines for which he could give no authority. But 
other southern members appeared to expect that the author would not 
act with the whig party, and they appeared desirous of hastening a sep^ 
ration between him and that organization. In a subsequent part of the 
same speech the following extract may be found : 

" Mr. Belser, of Alabama, said he desired to put a question to the gen- 
man from Ohio. 

" Mr. Giddings. ' My tune is fast spending, but if the gentleman will 
be brief I will hear him.' 

" Mr. Belser. ' I wish to inquire if the gentleman from Ohio will 
vote for a slaveholder at the coming presidential election.' 

" Mr. Giddings. ' I should be led to think from the question that 
the gentleman propounding it would not vote for a man who is opposed 
to slavery. I have stated, Mr. Chairman, that your rights and mine 
were perfectly mutual. The great and leading feature of our national 
compact is a perfect reciprocity of political rights among the several 
States. ... I verily believe that Mr. Clay will administer the 
government (if elected) with a strict regard to the constitutional rights 
of all the States. This he stands pledged to do ; and a long life of 
public service has given me and the public satisfactory evidence that he 
will wipe out the foul disgrace already brought upon our national cha- 
racter by attempting to make slavery and the slave trade subjects of 
national support.' " 

In a subsequent portion of the speech reference was made to Mr. Cal- 
houn's letter to Mr. Packenham as follows : 

" I am anxious to say a word in relation to the correspondence 
between the Secretary of State and the British Minister resident in this 
city. I refer particularly to the letter of Mr. Calhoun to Mr. Packen- 
ham, dated on the 18th of last month; and, Mr. Chairman, I feel humbled, 



230 CONFLICTING VIEWS. 

as an American citizen, when compelled to speak of that letter, in which 
the Government and people of this nation are represented as solicitous 
to continue slavery in Texas, and to oppose the progress of freedom in 
that government. Sir, for himself, and for the Executive, he was autho- 
rized to speak ; but for the Government, at least for the legislative branch 
of it, he was not authorized to speak. Sir, the representation that this 
legislative body was desirous of opposing the progress of civil liberty I 
believe to be unfounded and untrue. For myself, as one of the members 
of this branch, I declare it a misrepresentation. So far as that letter 
imputes to the people of the free States a desire to oppose the progress 
of human rights, and to extend and perpetuate slavery and the slave trade, 
I regard it as a base slander upon northern character. 

" Mr. Burt, of South Carolina, wished to interrupt the gentleman from 
Ohio. 

" Mr. Giddings. ' I have but a minute or two left, and I want to say 
many things.' 

" Mr. Burt. ' I want to know if the member from Ohio meant to say 
that the Secretary of State has done, or is capable of doing, anything 
base V 

" Mr. Giddings. 'lama little surprised at that question.' 

" Mr. Burt (much excited). ' That was your language.' 

" Mr. Giddings. ' Mr. Chairman, I hardly know how to understand 
this southern dialect.' 

" Mr. Burt (amid cries of Order, and the rapping of the chairman's 
gavel). ' Do you understand your own language V 

" Mr. Giddings. ' If gentlemen will keep cool until I get through, 
I will then answer all the questions they may propound to me. I had 
remarked, sir, that so far as the letter in question imputes to the people 
of the free States a desire to maintain a traffic in humam flesh, and the 
curse of slavery, so far I regarded it a base slander upon the northern cha- 
racter ; and I would repeat the idea in more forcible language if I could 
command it. I deny that any such feeling exists north of Mason and 
Dixon's line, and I characterized the assertion as basely slanderous.' " 

These are given as specimens of the spirit in which the debates of 
that day were carried on. 

A distinctive feature in the policy of the slave power consisted in 
maintaining that whatever Congress had done might be done again with 
propriety. In short, the devotees of slavery insisted that the past action 
of Congress constituted precedents binding upon statesmen and 
44 '-' people of that day. To this it was replied that northern states- 
men had surrendered northern rights and northern honor at the dictation 



mr. clay's opinions. 231 

of southern men. For this, the statesmen who had done it, were 
responsible. They admitted that Mr. Calhoun had, in 1840, intro- 
duced resolutions into the Senate revolting to humanity ; that northern 
Whigs dared not vote for them ; that they were destitute of that manly 
independence which should have stimulated them to resistance. But 
who would now admit that northern statesmen or people were 
bound to involve themselves in the damning iniquity of maintaining a 
commerce in human flesh ? The men who committed that outrage were 
responsible for their action, while those of the present day must act for 
themselves, and are alone accountable for their own conduct. The idea 
that the framers of the Constitution had authority to compel men of 
that or a subsequent generation to support a traffic in " God's image" 
— to murder or enslave colored men, was abhorrent to every principle 
of Christianity. That the framers of our Government had declared its 
object was to secure all our people, black and white, in the enjoyment of 
life and liberty : That neither God nor mankind had given to any 
government legitimate authority to invade these rights of men to life, 
or to that liberty which was necessary to sustain life. 

Mr. Clay was desirous of obtaining the nomination of the whig party 
for President. With that view he spent the winter of 1843-4 in New 
Orleans. On his way to Washington, in April, he made a speech at 
Raleigh, North Carolina, at the close of which he stated a synopsis of 
what he regarded Whig faith ; by the 9th article of which he declared it 
to be " the duty of each State to sustain its own domestic institutions.'' 1 

Thus Mr. Clay in few words expressed the precise doctrine for which 
the anti-slavery men were contending. It was plain that if South Caro- 
lina were bound to sustain her own slavery she could have no claim upon 
the Federal Government to do it. He soon came on to Washington, 
and to northern and southern men he asserted that the doctrines avowed 
in the essays signed " Pacificus," written by the author and published in 
1842, contained the correct doctrines on which the Government had been 
founded. This avowal, in bold and direct language, was indeed more than 
anti-slavery men had expected. On this account, leading friends of liberty 
avowed their confidence in Mr. Clay, and desired his election. 

The people of Kentucky caused another edition of his speech at Raleigh 
to be printed, leaving out the synopsis of Whig faith. With this his 
anti-slavery friends at the North were dissatisfied. The author wrote 
Mr. Clay on the subject, and in due course of mail received a letter from 
that distinguished gentleman, declaring that the edition of his speech 
published at Lexington had been brought out without his knowledge or 
consent ; but the doctrine which he had asserted was correct, and he 



232 DEFEAT OF MK. CLAY. 

would soon find an opportunity of reiterating it. Accordingly, on the 
2d September, the " Lexington Observer " contained a letter from Mr. 
Clay, in which that gentleman asserted, in nervous language, that " the 
maintenance, the continuance, the existence of slavery depends exclusively 
upon the power and authority of the Stales in which it exists." 

No issue could have been more direct and obvious than that formed 
by this letter, and the resolutions adopted in the Senate, on motion of 
Mr. Calhoun, in 1840. This exclusion of the free States and the Federal 
Government from the support of slavery was the very object for which 
Mr. Adams and the author had so long labored and striven. 

But when southern men called on Mr. Clay to avow his sentiments in 
regard to the annexation of Texas, he answered so evasively, and mani- 
fested so little opposition to that outrage, that anti-slavery men abandoned 
him in such numbers as to occasion his defeat rather than incur the 
responsibility of supporting him. 



THE ADMISSION OF TEXAS PROPOSED. 233 



CHAPTER XY. 

ANNEXATION OF TEXAS SLAVEH0LDIN6 VULGARITY IN CONGRESS — POWERS 

OP A REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT TO ENSLAVE INNOCENT PERSONS 
ASSERTED. 

At the reassembling of the twenty-eighth Congress for its rig44 
second and closing session, slaveholding members and those who 
sympathized with them appeared perfectly confident that the democratic 
party would resume permanent possession of the government on the 4th 
of March following,- when Mr. Polk should enter upon his executive 
duties. 

Joint resolutions were introduced in both Houses at an early day, 
proposing the admission of Texas as a State to the American Union. 
Conscious that it had become a party measure, a committee was ap- 
pointed by a whig caucus, to ascertain the views of each member and 
make report at a subsequent meeting. The committee reported that a 
majority of more than thirty members of the House of Representatives 
avowed their determination to oppose the annexation by all the legitimate 
means in their power. But members of experience declared, they had 
no confidence in those Democrats who professed opposition to any measure 
favored by a democratic President. 

As the debate on the resolutions continued, members who had , 
declared their opposition to the measure began to falter, and 
soon as the President elect reached the city preparatory to assuming 
official duties, the change of opinion became obvious, and before the 
vote was taken it was well understood that a large majority were in 
favor of the measure. 

Of the several propositions offered for annexation, that presented by 
Hon. Milton Brown, of Tennessee, was adopted, sent to the Senate, 
where it was amended and returned to the House, asking concurrence in 
the amendment. 

On the 28th February the vote was taken, and showed that 132 
members were in favor, and 76 against the bill as it came from the 
Senate, and it became a law. The members from the several States 
voted as follows : 

Maine. Yea — Messrs. Dunlap, "White, Hamlin and Cary . . 4 
Nay — Messrs. Morse and Severance ......... 2 



234: THE VOTE ON ANNEXING TEXAS. 

New Hampshire. Yea — Messrs. Burke, Norris, and Redding ( 3 
Nay — Mr. Hale 1 

Massachusetts. Yea — Messrs. Parmenter and Williams ... 2 
Nay — Messrs. Adams, Winthrop, King, Abbot, Hudson, 
Baker, Rockwell, and Grinnell 8 

Rhode Island. Nay — Messrs. Cranston and Potter .... 2 

Connecticut. Yea — Messrs. Seymour, Catlin, Stewart, and 

Simons 4 

Vermont. Nay — Messrs. Collamer, Foot, and Marsh .... 3 
Not voting — Mr. Dillingham. 

New York. Yea — Messrs. Strong, Murphy, Maclay, Leonard, 

Anderson, Russell, Seymour, Pratt, Ellis, Stetson, Ben- 
ton, Hungerford, Carpenter, Carey, Purdy, Robinson, 

Wheaton, Rathbun, Dana, and Hubbell 20 

Nay — Messrs. Phoenix, Davis, Barnard, Rogers, King, 
Green, Patterson, Carrol, Tyler, Morely, Smith, and 

Hunt 12 

New Jersey. Yea — Messrs. Sykes, Farlee, and Kirkpatrick . . 3 

Nay— Mr. Wright 1 

Not voting — Mr. Elmer. 
Pennsylvania. Yea— Messrs. Smith, C. I. Ingersoll, Yost, Ritter, 

Brodhead, Bidlach, Fuller, Black, Foster, and Hayes 10 
Nay— Messrs. Morris, Jenks, Mcllvain, Brown, Pollock, 
Ramsey, Irwin, Stewart, Dickey, Darragh, Reed and 

Buffington 12 

Not voting — Messrs. J. R. Ingersoll, and Ness .... 2 
Delaware. Not voting — Mr. Rodney. 

Maryland. Nay— Messrs. Causine, Brengle, Wethered, Ken- 
nedy, Preston, Lucas, and Spence 7 

Virginia. Yea — Messrs. Atkinson, Dromgole, Coles, Hubbard, 

Bayley, Taylor, Chapman, Hopkins, Steinrod, and Lucas 10 
Nay— Messrs. Goggin, Newton, Chilton, and Summers . 4 
North Carolina. Yea— Messrs. Reid, Saunders, McKay, Daniel, 

and Arrington 5 

Nay— Messrs. Barringer, Clingman, Deberry, and Raynor 4 
Tennessee. Yea — Messrs. Andrew Johnson, Cave Johnson, 
Senter, Blackwell, Cullom, Jones, A. V. Brown, and 

Dickinson g 

Nay— Messrs. Milton Brown, Ash, and Peyton .... 3 
Kentucky. Yea— Messrs. Boyd, Caldwell, French, Tibbatts, and 

Stone 5 



CONTEMPLATED RESULTS OF ANNEXATION - . 235 

Nay — Messrs. Green, Grider, Davis, and White ... 4 

Not voting — Mr. Thomason 1 

Ohio. Yea — Messrs. Duncan, Weller, Potter, St. John, Mc- 
Dowal, Brinkerhoof, Morris, McCauslin, Mathews, and 

Dean 10 

Nay — Messrs. Schenck, Vance, Vanmeter, Vinton, John- 
son, Tilden, Giddings, Hamlin, Florence, and Harper . 10 
Indiana. Yea — Messrs. Owen, Henley, Thomas Smith, Brown, 

Davis, Wright, Petit, and Kennedy 8 

Nay — Messrs. Caleb B. Smith and Sample 2 

Illinois. Yea — Messrs. McClernand, Smith, Ficklin, Wentworth, 

Douglas, and Hogue 6 

Nay — Mr. Harden 1 

The following States voted unanimously for annexation, to wit : South 
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and 
Michigan. 



*D" 



It was eight o'clock in the evening when the final vote was taken. 
No sooner had the Speaker announced the result than cannon upon 
the terrace west of the Capitol sounded forth the triumph : Imme- 
diately bonfires lighted up the city, and the sound of revelry and 
drunkenness was heard and seen in its various localities. Northern 
Democrats and southern slaveholders rejoiced at a result which they 
believed would place them in undisputed control of the government. 
Members from the slaveholding States were rejoicing in the anticipated 
profits which they expected to reap from the increased price of 
human flesh. 

Pensively and alone the writer walked to his lodgings. Never before 
had he viewed his country as he then saw it. The exultation of slave- 
breeders and slavedealers, at thus controlling the Congress of the United 
States, constituted a spectacle that he had not expected to witness. 
The barbarous war, the bloodshed, the devastation, the corruptions, the 
civil war, which resulted from this triumph of the slave power, were at 
no subsequent period of his life more vividly before his mind than they 
were that evening, while alone in his room, contemplating the results 
that would naturally follow the action of Congress on that sad day. 

The subject had occupied much time in the Senate, but the joint 
resolution, as it finally passed the House of Representatives, was adopted 
by vote of 27 to 25. The following Senators from the free States voting 
in the affirmative, to wit : Messrs. Fairfield, of Maine ; Atherton and 
Woodbury, of New Hampshire ; Niles, of Connecticut ; Dickinson, of 
New York ; Buchanan and Sturgeon, of Pennsylvania ; Allen and 



236 MEMBERS ABANDON THE PARTY. 

Tappan, of Ohio ; Hannigan, of Indiana ; Sample and Breese, of Illinois. 
While Messrs. Archer and Rives, of Virginia ; Bayard and Clayton, of 
Delaware ; Berrien, of Georgia ; Crittenden and Morehead, of Kentucky; 
Pearce, of Maryland, and Mangum, of North Carolina, voted in the 
negative. 

It had been expected that no Whig would vote for the measure, and 
that many Democrats would vote against it. But this expectation failed ; 
some Whigs voted for, and some Democrats against it ; but the result 
approximated very closely to a strict party division. 

The demand, however, thus made by the slave power upon its 
" northern allies " was too great. Many leading members of the demo- 
cratic party could not reconcile their judgments, or consciences, to the 
measure. Having voted for the annexation of Texas, they refused to go 
farther, and after some little hesitation abandoned the party forever* : 
and this measure, which the leaders of the democratic party had supposed 
ordained unto life, they found directly tending to political death ; and 
many servile politicians who sought to save their lives by thus subserving 
the interest of slavery, lost their political existence. 

Early in the session, Mr. Adams gave notice of his intention to move 
a recision of the twenty-first rule of the House. For ten years he had 
striven against this plain violation of the people's rights. Ably and 
persistently he maintained an open and undisguised warfare upon this 



* Of those referred to in the text Hon. Jacob Brinkerhoof, of Ohio, was an example. He was 
opposed to the measure from the first ; but from the solicitude of friends, was prevailed upon to vote 
for concurring in the Senate's amendment. With this he appeared dissatisfied, returned home, and 
declined further action with the party, and at the formation of the republican organization consti- 
tuted one of its active members, was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of his State, where he 
acquired reputation as an able jurist, and at the time of writing this note, in 1S62, he was em- 
ployed in the discharge of the duties of that honorable position. 
..__ Hon. John P. Hale was a democratic representative from the State of New Hampshire, a State 
more devoted to the interests of slavery than any other of the North. He had been nominated at a 
State Convention for a reelection to Congress : but the same Convention adopted resolutions in 
favor of annexing Texas to the Union. Mr. Hale declined the nomination, voted against the annexa- 
tion of Texas, returned to New Hampshire, appealed to the people of that State to maintain their 
right to be exempt from the expense, the disgrace and crime of supporting slavery and the slave 
trade, was elected to the House of Representatives of that State, was made Speaker of that body, 
then elected to the Senate of the United States ; and in the short space of two years New Hampshire 
inscribed her name on the roll of free States, and up to the time of writing this note she has 
maintained the position thus assumed : and Hale is stifl one of her representatives in the most 
august legislative body of the woi-ld. 

Hon. Preston King, of New York, had been a Democrat up to the consummation of the Texas 
outrage. From that time he acted for freedom, calmly, firmly, and steadily. He was several times 
reelected to the House of Representatives, and thence to the Senate of the United States, where he 
now, at the time of writing this note, is doing honor to the cause for which he has so long labored, 
and to the State which has honored him with her confidence. 

But many other citizens of distinction in the free States, who had long been members of the demo- 
cratic party, abandoned it at the passage of the joint resolutions for admitting Texas. 



GAG-KULE RESCINDED. 237 

infraction of the Constitution. In doing this he had bared his breast to 
the shafts of calumny. For ten years the storm of slaveholding persecu- 
tion had raged around him. Slaveholders and Democrats had railed 
against him in vain : the day of his triumph had now fully come. His 
motion to strike that disgraceful rule from the manual was sustained by 
a vote of 108 to 80. 

Of the host of members whom he often characterized as " the Swiss- 
guards of slavery, fighting for pay," only the following now voted against 
r ■ chiding the rule, to wit : 

New Hampshire. Messrs. Redding, Norris, and Burko, .... 3 

York. . . " Murphy and King, 2 

Pennsylvania. . " C. I. Iugersoll and Smith, 2 

Ohio " Matthews and Stone, 2 

Indiana. ... " Brown and Davis, 2 

Ilj.unois. ... " Smith, Ficklin, and Hogue, .... 3 

being fourteen in all the free States. Messrs. Clingman and Deberry, of 
North Carolina ; Wethersed, of Maryland ; and White, of Kentucky, 
voted for the repeal of the obnoxious rule. 

Mi-. Adams had devoted his energies to the maintenance of [J845 
the right of petition, the author had labored to restore the free- 
dom of debate : and the restoration of these rights constituted the first 
surrender of the democratic party, to the popular feeling of the north- 
ern States ; and, in that point of view, marked an era in " the regime of 

very." Yet it should be borne in mind, that while the House of 
Representatives thus ostensibly gave back to the people their constitu- 
tional right of petition, they had recourse to an expediency even more 
dishonorable. Annually, when the Speaker arranged the committees, 
he was careful to place a majority of pro-slavery members on each, 
so that petitions, in regard to "the peculiar institution," sent to them, 
were retained in silence until the close of the session, when they were 
entombed in the archives of the House, from which there was no resur- 
rection . 

But although there was no longer any rule of the House restricting 
debate or the right of petition, in regard to slavery, there was a very 
general effort among slaveholders and northern pro-slavery members of 
bo f ii the whig and democratic parties to render the exercise of these 
ri^'.is odious, by stigmatizing those who practised them as "agitators," 
"abolitionists," and the use of other unmeaning epithets. 

expose these efforts, the writer often referred to some disgraceful 
circumstance connected with slavery, whenever he spoke of the institu- 



238 SLAVEHOLDING RIBALDRY. 

tion ; and thus, while its supporters were assailing him personally, he 
endeavored to exhibit to the public view the barbarism and corruption 
which they were seeking to hide from the people. 

An incident occurred, ou the 6th February, which may give the 
reader some idea of the spirit manifested on this subject. 

The author was addressing the Committee of the Whole House, 
,on the bill making appropriations to carry out our treaty stipulations 
with the Indian tribes ; and for the purpose of exhibiting the corrup- 
tion, the base purposes of the treaty of " Indian Spring," he referred 
to historical facts with which the reader was made acquainted in a for- 
mer chapter, in regard to the claim of certain slaveholders of Georgia, 
who, after receiving one hundred and nine thousand dollars as a compen- 
sation for their fugitive slaves, demanded one hundred and forty-one 
thousand more as a compensation for the offspring, which the females ivould 
have borne to their masters, had they remained in bondage. And, he add- 
ed, Congress actually paid, mostly from the pockets of northern laborers, 
that laro-e sum, as a compensation for children who were never born, but 
who might have been, if their parents had remained faithful slaves. 

The remark called forth some laughter, which app'eared to irri- 
tate members from the South, who began to manifest great in- 
dignation. Mr. Giddings at once began to make a mock apology, 
expressing regret that these things existed ; but as they did exist, it be- 
came his duty to make them known, while he had no word of censure 
for those who sought to erase these transactions from the historic record. 

Mr. Black, of Georgia, obtained the floor to reply, and was immediate- 
ly surrounded by southern members. His vulgar abuse was so gross, so 
obscene, that no reporter attempted to repeat his language. Nor did 
thev even refer to some of his prominent ideas. Much less can the his- 
torian place them on record, at this day. Mr. Black has been called to 
his final account ; most of those who stood around, encouraged and 
prompted him on that occasion, are no longer inhabitants of earth. 
During the seventeen years that have passed since that day, the storms 
of life have beaten severely upon him who pens these pages ; yet, duty 
to all, require that some of the leading points of Mr. Black's speech 
should be stated. 

He referred to the insinuations, that Mr. Giddings was interested in 
the horses and team which one Torry lost when attempting to aid negroes 
to escape ; said that Torry had died in the penitentiary ; that the author 
ou"-ht to be there ; that if the House could decide the question, he would 
be sent there at once ; declared that Mr. Giddings had violated the law 
by franking through the post-office a calico dress, to his wife, for which 



FORBEARANCE REVENGED. 239 

• 

he ought to be punished ; and closed, by advising him to return to his 
constituents, and ascertain if he had a character ? — for he asserted, be- 
fore heaven, he had none in that hall. 

The writer felt less indignation towards Black, than towards many mem- 
bers of higher character who stood around him, encouraging him in his 
disgraceful vulgarity, and laughing at his obscenity. It is due to the 
Democracy of the free States to say, that no member of that party, 
north of Mason and Dixon's line, appeared to participate in this display 
of slaveholdiug ribaldry. 

The writer replied, that when the member from Alabama (Mr. 
Payne) had, for the obvious purpose of slander, insinuated that he was 
interested in the horses tmd carriage left by Torry, he said, distinctly, 
that all he had -ever seen, heard, or known of that transaction, was 
drawn from the newspapers — but that had been said for the benefit of 
gentlemen, of men who understood the decencies, the ordinary proprieties 
*of life, and not for the satisfaction of the member from Alabama, or of 
his less worthy confrere from Georgia, to whom he owed no other respect 
than that which parliamentary law constrained him to observe ; that 
what he alluded to, in regard to the franking of a calico dress, the author 
was wholly ignorant, and could form no opinion, and could say nothing 
more at that time than to pronounce it an unmitigated falsehood ; but 
if any fact should be developed, inculpating any member, he would 
bring it before the House — as no charge, coming from one holding a 
seat in that body, was unworthy of notice, however low, vulgar, or ob- 
scene the private character of the member making the charge might 
be.* 



* Impressed with the Idea that Black had heard something, out of which he had manufactured the 
charge of franking a dress, the author, that evening, addressed a note to the Postmaster-General, 
Mr. Wickliff, of Kentucky, (now, 1S62, a democratic member of Congress,) inquiring if he had any 
information on the subject. That officer, evidently feeling that he was involved in Black's ridiculous 
charge, Immediately answered the author's note, saying that the postmaster at Painesville, Ohio, had 
written that a bundle, apparently a lady's dress, had passed through his office ; and that he, Wick- 
riff, had referred to this letter in conversation, and would at once call on the postmaster at Painesville 
for definite information. The author then saw that the slander had doubtless been brought into 
existence by other and more important members of the democratic party, and he awaited the denou- 
ment with much curiosity. 

Some ten days subsequently, the stately form of the Postmaster-General was seen on the demo- 
cratic side of the House, mingling with members, evidently engaged in grave consultation. 
Soon after, in company with Hon. Emery D. Potter, of Ohio, another member of the democratic 
party, he came across the hall, and the two gentlemen being seated beside the author, Mr. Wickliff, 
with unusual gravity, proceeded to say that he had received a letter from the postmaster at Paines- 
ville, saying, that the bundle referred to in his former letter, "was a shawl directed to Mrs. Potter, 
frankad by McNulty, Clerk of the House, as a 'public document,' 1 and attested by the name of 
Mr. Potter." That as he was desirous that no feeling between the author and Mr. Potter might 
arise, he had come personally, with that gentleman, to make known the facts. The gravity with 
which Wickliff and Potter now besought the author to say no more on the subject, the more than 



4 



210 A CONGRESSIONAL BULLY EXPOSED. 

The author stated that he well understood the feeling which 
1845 ' 3 prompted slaveholders and their allies to do all in their power 
to throw around congressional and Executive action in favor of 
slavery, the protection of perpetual silence. He did not hold the 
member from Georgia so much responsible for his conduct as he did the 
more respectable members who had stood around him while speaking, 
and had prompted the display of that brutal coarseness which nothing 
but the moral putridity of slavery could encourage. That so far as he 
had himself referred to the institution, he had simply repeated historic 
truths, authenticated by official documents, which no member dared 
deny. ' That even the member from Georgia, speaking for himself, for 
those around him, and for the institution, dared not deny a word which 
the author had asserted. But Mr. Black had attempted to assail him 
personally, for daring to utter facts. To these rude assaults he would 
make no reply. He stood on that floor, before the country, clothed with 
the confidence of an intelligent and virtuous constituency, who, but a 
few months previously, had indorsed his character by a fourth election ; 
while his assailant had been discarded after one election, as unworthy 
longer to fill a place properly assigned to honorable men. And 
now, as the chills of political dissolution were upon him, his " ruling 
passion " for vulgarity had shown itself " strong in death." 

The author had a few moments previously observed that Black was 
not in his seat. He had passed through the lobby behind the Speaker's 
chair and entered the small aisle on the author's right, where he 
was standing unobserved when the sentence last quoted was uttered. 
Black was unable to restrain his feelings, and raising a large cane 
which he held in his hand, said, "if you repeat those words I will 
knock you down? ' The author, turning his eye to the right, saw Black 
with his cane raised, evidently under the excitement of extreme anger, 
and, unable to resist the impulse of the moment, repeated the language 
he had used in order to test the courage of Black, which he greatly 
doubted. He continued his remarks, while some of Black's friends, seeing 
the position in which he had placed himself, removed him from the halL 
As Black was being passed out through the small aisle at which he 
entered, the author continued his remarks ; and Mr. Dawson, of Louisi- 

ludicrous combination of circumstances which now brought out the foolish and ridiculous action of 
the democratic Clerk, the democratic Postmaster-General, and the leaders of the party who had 
encouraged Black, and tacitly indorsed his slander, excited laughter in the author's miud. But 
Potter was sad. He was an inoffensive man. He now insisted that Black's charge would not affect 
the author, but if the facts were published they would ruin him ; and he was desirous that the 
author would let the matter drop, and say no more about it. This appeal to the author's better 
feelings overcame his desire to expose his enemies, and, to the great dissatisfaction of many friends, 
he refused to make the exposure. 



V 



AN AHMED MOB DISPERSED. 241 

ana, who assaulted the author on a previous occasion, now rose from his 
seat, and, coming across the hall, approached within some four or five 
yards of the author, and placing his hand in his pocket said, " I'll shoot 
him, by G-d, I'll shoot him," at the same time taking care to cock his 
pistol so as to have the click heard by those around him. Instantly, 
Mr. Causine, of Maryland, a Whig, rose and taking position in the small 
aisle in front of the author and directly between him and Dawson, folded 
his arms across his breast with his right hand apparently resting upon 
the handle of his weapon, which was supposed to be concealed in his 
bosom ; at the same moment Mr. Slidell, of Louisiana, Mr. Stiles, of 
Georgia, and two other members on the democratic side of the hall rose, 
and walked across the open area in front of the Speaker's chair and took 
their positions near Mr. Dawson, each man putting his hand in his pocket 
as he was coming across the hall, apparently for the purpose of adjusting 
his weapon.* 

At the same moment Kenneth Raynor, of North Carolina, a Whig,f 
and fully armed, left his seat and took position on the author's left. 
Mr. Hudson, of Massachusetts, came and quietly took position on the 
author's right, and Mr. Foote, of Vermont, placed himself at the 
entrance of the aisle through which Black had made his exit. It was 
with armed foes in front and friends on either hand, prepared to meet 
the hostile demonstration which for a time appeared imminent, that the 
author continued his remarks. One by one the slaveholders in front 
began to feel the awkwardness of their position, and quietly returned to 
their seats. Dawson, however, remained standing in front, while Causine 
stood firmly facing him until the author closed his speech. Then Daw- 
son returned to the democratic side of the house, the author's friends 
resumed then- several positions, and the business of legislation pro- 
ceeded as usual. 

This was the last effort to silence a member of the House of 
Representatives by threats of personal violence made during the 
author's service in Congress. 

A private claim of somewhat extraordinary character demanded tho 
attention of Congress during this closing session of the twenty-eighth 
Congress. In 1836, soon after General Jessup assumed command of our 
army in Florida, he entered into a written contract with certain chiefs 
and warriors of the Creek tribe of Indians, by which they agreed to 

* At the time of penning this note (1862) Mr. SlidelTis the agent of the Confederate States, sent to 
France in order to obtain a recognition of the Southern Confederacy. 

t Mr. Raynor possessed a high order of talent, was sincere in his friendship, somewhat impulsive, 
but honeBt. It is with pain that the writer adds, he is at thia time (1S62) engaged in the rebel 
army. 

16 



242 PRISONERS OF WAR ENSLAVED. 

furnish two battalions of not less than six hundred men each, to serve one 
year against the Seminoles, for which they were to receive ten thousand 
dollars and such plunder as they might capture from the enemy. Although 
the law had provided the mode of enlisting troops, and had specifically 
determined the amount to be paid to each soldier, yet General Jessup 
does not appear to have supposed that he was violating the law by 
entering into this contract ; indeed the contract was made irrespective, 
and in direct violation of the law. Yet the Executive and War Depart- 
ment approved the act, and the Creek warriors entered upon the stipulated 
service. The Cherokees refused to furnish warriors for such a purpose, 
and their principal chief, John Ross, addressed a most able letter to the 
Hon. Secretary of War, solemnly protesting against the employment of 
pagan warriors to fight the battles of a Christian nation. He also sent 
a large deputation to visit the Seminoles, to induce them to make 
peace without further bloodshed. 

During the year these Creek warriors captured more than one hundred 
negroes. These were claimed by the Indians as "plunder" coming 
within the letter and spirit of the contract, and were enslaved by their 
captors. General Jessup and the Secretary of War concurred in this 
construction of the contract ; aud the practice of enslaving prisoners 
captured in war, after it had been abandoned by all Christian nations for 
at least two centuries, was now revived by the American Government 
under the administration of General Jackson. 

But provisions being scarce, General Jessup published an order direct- 
ing eight thousand dollars to be paid to the Indians as a compensation 
for these enslaved negroes, whom he ordered to be sent to Fort Pike, 
below New Orleans, declaring them to be the property of the Government. 
This procedure was also sanctioned by the War Department, and ap- 
proved by the Executive. Aud so far as the authority of the President 
extended, the people of the United States became slave-purchasers and 
slaveholders. 

After these things had transpired, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
appears to have entertained some misgivings, and in an official communi- 
cation suggested to the Secretary of War that in the then excited state 
of the public mind it was doubtful whether Congress might not hesitate 
in appropriating money to carry out this arrangement. He does not 
appear to have doubted the propriety of enslaving men in Florida as 
well as on the African coast ; nor doc, he appear to have entertained 
doubts as to the ability of the Creek Indians, aided by the Government 
of the United States, to enslave men as legally aud with as much pro- 
priety as did the slavedealers on the African coast, who were hanged 



ATTEMPTS AT DISREPUTABLE EVASION. 243 

for crimes precisely similar to those which our Government was perpe. 
trating in Florida. 

In the whole of these transactions there does not appear to have been 
any doubts entertained as to the constitutional authority of the Execu- 
tive, nor as to his moral right to enslave men ; but the slave power feared 
that abolitionists would deny such authority, and might criticise the 
right of the Government to enslave innocent men and women. 

While these questions were under consideration, a rich slave- ri;45 
dealer from Georgia, James C. Watson, happened to be in 
Washington. To him the whole subject was explained, and a proposition 
was made for him to take these negroes, receive a bill of sale from the 
Creek Indians, to whom he should pay fifteen thousand dollars ; and as 
the negroes were held by officers of the American army, the Secretary 
of War should ismie an order to such officer as might have them in charge, 
directing their delivery to the slavedealer or his agent. There was no 
documentary evidence as to the manner in which the United States 
obtained the eight thousand dollars which General Jessup paid to the 
Indians. It is presumed, however, that the Indians repaid it from the 
money received of Watson. 

But our military officers refused to respect the order of the Secretary 
of War. General Taylor positively refused to interfere in the mat- 
ter ; and many other officers, among whom was the distinguished 
General Gaines, actuated by feelings of humanity, put forth great 
efforts to keep the negroes from the agent of Watson, who after 
encountering many difficulties and disappointments and incurring much 
expense, returned without obtaining any of the negroes : and Watson, 
having paid out his money at the request of our public officers, now sent 
his petition to Congress, asking that his money, interest and expenses be 
refunded by Government ? 

The petition was presented by Mr. Dawson, of Georgia, and was re- 
ferred to the Committee of Claims, but learning that the author, then a 
member of that committee, would oppose the claim, he requested that 
no report be made upon it. • 

At the commencement of the twenty-eighth Congress, the author 
having lost the confidence of slaveholders, was no longer permitted to 
preside over the Committee of Claims. 

Ex-Governor Vance, of Ohio, was made chairman. He had never served 
on the committee, and was compelled to learn his own duties from his 
colleagues, who were older in service. But this claim was cherished by 
the democratic party, and to render its passage safe, Hon. Howell 
Cobb, of Georgia, was placed on the Committee, being one of the 



244 SLAVEDEALING EXPOSED. 

most influential members from the South, and this claim was consigned 
to his care.* 1 Early in the first session of the twenty-eighth Congress 
Mr. Cobb reported a bill to compensate Watson for the failure of his 
speculation. 

Soon as the bill was printed, the author called on several Whig 
speakers and invited their attention to it, assuring thiin that the demo- 
cratic party had never engaged in a subject which reflected greater dis- 
grace upon its members, nor had they assumed the support of any mea- 
sure more odious : But these leaders of the whig party, though anxious 
to involve their opponents in disgrace, lacked the moral courage to effect 
that object by appealing to argumeats in favor of freedom. 
.„«., The writer was detained from attendance on the sessions of 

the House on one of the days devoted to private bills, when Mr- 
Cobb proposed to take up this claim of Watson out of order. Mr. Ad- 
ams objected. Mr. Cobb declared there could be no reasonable objec- 
tion to it, and the claimant was kept out of the use of his money because 
the bill coidd not be brought before the House for action : But the 
House refused to take it up. 

At length it came before the House in due order of business, and the 
author stated his objections to its passage ; he defined the limitation of 
the powers possessed by human governments ; asserting that the laws 
of nature, or the will of God, had endowed all men with the inextin- 
guishable right to live, to support life, and attain happiness and heaven. 
That by these laws, the earth was divided into land and water, time is 
separated into night and day : By these laws men must have food and 
sleep and rest. They must have raiment and habitation. To attain 
these they must have liberty : That no human enactment can change 
this law of Nature, which is but the manifestation of God's will : That 
to deprive an innocent man of his fife is murder — to enslave him is equally 
a crime, the character of which no human law can modify or change. 
That when General Jessup and the Pagan Creeks undertook to enter 
into a compact by which innocent women and children should be cap- 
tured and enslaved, they merely entered into a covenant for the commis- 
sion of crimes revolting to Christianity ; crimes which we, as a nation, 
have declared " piracy " when committed on the African coast, while no 
one would say that God looked upon the place of committing such 
crimes as of any importance. That both General Jessup and the Creek 
Indians' deserved punishment for thus conspiring to deprive the Seminole 

* Mr. Cobb was subsequently Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States and 
afterwards Speaker of the rebel Congress, and at a still more recent period, a general in the rebel 
army. 



BILL DEFEATED. 245 

negroes of the sacred rights which God had bestowed upon them ; that 
the Secretary of War, who sanctioned the contract, simply made himself 
a party to the crime, and by every moral consideration deserved punish- 
ment. Xor was the President less guilty : His high position did not 
exempt him from the just penalty due to his moral turpitude. Indeed, 
men high in authority, and yet regardless of that justice which consti- 
tutes God's dearest attribute, should be the first to suffer. Therefore, 
by the natural law, by the moral law, the President, the Secretary of 
War, General Jessup, and the Creek Indians could, in no respect, change 
the right of the negroes, nor give to the Creek Indians any power or 
moral right whatever to enslave them : And no order of -General Jes- 
sup, sanctioned by the Secretary of War, and approved by the Presi- 
dent, could give the people of the United States any authority over 
those negroes. 

The second proposition was, that the Constitution was based upon the 
moral law, in letter and in spirit. That it provides that " no person 
shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, except by due process of 
law." That is, without trial and conviction in a court of competent juris- 
diction. To enslave these innocent people was a direct and unmitigated 
violation of the Constitution, as well as of the moral law. It was the 
exercise of despotic powers, the commission of a crime of the first magui* 
tude, for which the Indians, the Secretary of War, and the President 
deserved punishment : that Watson was a slavedealer who had attempt- 
ed to make merchandise of human souls, for which he deserved the gal- 
lows ; but surely no sane man would admit that Watson had any claim 
upon the people of the North because he had failed to commit the crime 
which he intended to perpetrate. 

Messrs. Cobb and Stephens, of Georgia, and Belser, of Alabama, 
denied that the case involved the question of property in human Jlesh. 
They insisted that the high officers of Government had advised Watson 
to purchase the negroes ; to pay out his money, supposing they were 
under the control of the Government : That he had thereby lost his 
money, and the United States ought to repay it. 

Mr. Adams replied, that the Florida war was commenced and prose- 
cuted for the purpose of enslaving innocent people, and that all proceed- 
ings for that purpose were void as to Congress, and to all other per- 
sons, and criminal as to all who participated in the transaction ; and he 
moved to lay the bill on the table. But to prevent any vote involving 
the merits of the bill, Mr. Hammet, of Mississippi, moved an adjournment, 
which motion was sustained, and the bill was no more heard of during 
that Congress. 



24:6 PEIMAL TKUTHS DENIED. 

The result was regarded as a defeat of the slave interest and a tri- 
umph of the whig party. 

The primal doctrines of our Government were again brought 
under consideration upon the question' of admitting Honda 
to the sisterhood of States. The people of that territory, in 
framing their State constitution, inserted a clause prohibiting the 
legislature from abolishing slavery. Exceptions were taken to this 
clause. In the discussion arising on this question, Mr. Douglas, of 
Illinois, put forth the doctrine which in subsequent years he main- 
tained with such determination of purpose as to attract very general 
attention throughout the country. He insisted that the people of a ter- 
ritory have the political and moral right, while framing a constitution, to 
establish slavery if they choose : Thus boldly denying the doctrine of 
the fathers, that " governments are instituted to secure the enjoyment 
of life and liberty." Indeed, he maintained that human govern- 
ments hold the same legitimate authority to murder, which they have 
to secure life ; the same authority to enslave mankind, which they have 
to protect liberty. These doctrines were at that time entertained, appa- 
rently, by the entire democratic party, and by leading members of 
the whig party. From 1193, the Federal Government had been con- 
ducted upon this doctrine, and Florida was admitted upon this prin- 
ciple. Mr. Bayley, of Virginia, was bold in his denunciation of every 
member who would undertake to dictate to the people of Florida the 
character of her constitution and government. A resolution limiting 
the time for debating the bill was adopted ; and the floor was thence- 
forth awarded to democratic members, who occupied the time until the 
final vote, which was controlled entirely by party division, being 123 in 
the affirmative to 11 in the negative. 

In pursuance of the resolutions adopted by the Democratic National 
Convention for obtaining " the whole of Oregon," Mr. Duncan, of Ohio, 
early in the session, introduced a bill to organize a territorial gov- 
ernment hi all that portion of country which was. then in the joint 
occupation of Great Britain and the United States : And the policy df 
the democratic party was declared to consist in obtaining " the whole 
of Oregon » and " the whole of Texas." Northern Democrats justified 
themselves in pledging their votes for the annexation of Texas, in con- 
sideration of southern members having pledged theirs in favor of Oregon. 
And when told that for the United States to take forcible possession of 
Oregon would produce war with England, they replied that a war with 
England would silence agitation in regard to slavery, and thereby prove 
a great benefit^to the country. 



THE WHOLE OF OREGON CLAIMED. 247 

There Was a full discussion of the bill in regard to Oregon. An amend- 
ment excluding slavery from the territory was adopted by 131 to 69. 
The bill also authorized the President to give notice to the British gov- 
ernment terminating the 1 joint occupation of the territory, and passed the 
House of Representatives by 140 to 59. 

- During the debate on this bill, the policy of obtaining Texas was ad- 
vocated as a part of the policy adopted by the democratic party, and 
while discussing the annexation of Texas, the same policy was constantly 
avowed. All apprehensions of a war with England were treated with 
contempt by the ruling party, and most of those speaking on that sub- 
ject exhibited a desire for hostilities. 

Nor was the Senate inattentive to this subject. At an early period 
of the session a bill was introduced into that body, authorizing the Pre- 
sident to take possession of all the Oregon territory up to latitude 54 deg. 
40 miu., and was debated until the day of adjournment ; but they 
took no final vote upon the bill before them ; nor did they consider the 
bill sent them from the House ; and the twenty-eighth Congress was 
brought to a close without any definite action in regard to Oregon. 

On the 4th March, Mr. Polk was inaugurated as President of the 
United States. The bill for annexing Texas had passed and became a 
law, but that in regard to Oregon was yet in abeyance : . The Presi- 
dent in his inaugural address assured the country that " our title to the 
whole of Oregon was clear and unquestionable," and that he would use 
his constitutional powers to maintain it. 



248 WAK WITH ENGLAND DESIRED. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ATTEMPTS TO EXCITE A WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN — THE MEXICAN WAR COM- 
MENCED EXODUS OF FLORIDA EXILES. 

At the assembling of the twenty-ninth Congress, the President 
in his annual message informed that body that all attempts to 
settle the Oregon question with Great Britain had failed, and reasserting 
that England had no title to the territory in dispute, called on Congress 
to make the necessary provision for maintaining our rights in the disputed 
territory. 

This appeal was heartily responded to by the democratic party in the 
House of Representatives, not one of whom appeared to doubt that a 
war with England would silence all agitation on the subject of slavery, 
and insure to them the control of the Government for an indefinite time. 
These facts impressed the public mind with an expectation of war, and 
many leading Whigs appeared anxious to cast responsibility upon anti- 
slavery men, and to hold them accountable for the folly and crimes of 
those who sought a dishonorable war. Whigs and Democrats laid 
it down as a predicate, that opposition to slavery in the District of 
Columbia, in the Territories and on the high seas, coulchdo no good : but 
while it must fail of all beneficial results, it stirred up ill-feeling among 
southern members, which worked mischief to the body politic ; and 
would eventually destroy the Union. 

Unfortunately a class of men called radical abolitionists, regarding 
the construction of the Constitution entertained by leading Whigs as 
correct, and honestly believing that instrument to have imposed upon the 
people of the free States the burden of supporting slavery, pronounced 
it "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell f declaring that 
nothing short of a dissolution of the Union could relieve the people of 
the free States from the moral guilt of sustaining slavery. 

Politicians of all parties manifested an estrangement from Mr. Adams 
and the writer, who then appeared to be the only members willing to 
incur the odium of openly opposing the slave power. The Whigs, with 
whom they had always acted, excluded them from their consultations, 
and held no political fellowship with either of them. In regard to 
political action they consulted together, but with no other members. 



MR. CALHOUN HESITATES. 249 

Soon after the assembling of Congress, General Cass, the most expe- 
rienced and probably the ablest member of the Senate who acted with 
the democratic party, moved resolntions instructing the Committee on 
Military Affairs to inquire into the condition of our fortifications on the 
seaboard, and the means possessed by the Government for the defence 
of the country : Also directing the Committee on the Militia to inquire 
into that arm of the national defence : Also instructing the Committee 
on Naval Affairs to inquire into the condition of the navy and our naval 
supplies. 

Joint resolutions were also introduced into the Senate, directing the 
President to give notice for the termination of the joint occupancy of 
the territory in question, declaring it to belong to the United States, 
and that the G overnment held no constitutional power to surrender any 
portion of it. 

These resolutions were adopted by the Senate, sent to the , lg46 _ 
House, and were referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs ; 
who reported them back to the House with a recommendation of con- 
currence, and thus far every indication pointed to immediate war. 

Mr. Adams and the writer were incredulous as to approaching hos- 
tilities : They could not believe the slave power so reckless as to enter 
upon a war with England in the then state of public feeling respecting 
" the peculiar institution." 

At this time Mr. Calhoun reappeared in the Senate. He had retired 
at the close of Mr. Tyler's administration and was not expected to appear 
again in public life. He now seemed anxious and care-worn, and to the 
very general astonishment of his admirers avowed himself opposed to 
hasty action in regard to Oregon. 

On the 5th February the resolution from the Senate requiring the 
President to give notice for the termination of the joint occupancy of 
Oregon came before the House for action ; and the writer took occasion 
in a public speech to announce that the slave power had perfect control 
of the Government, maintaining peace and making war as the supposed 
interests of slavery might dictate : That the democratic party had become 
the mere instrument for sustaining the institution of slavery. That a 
war with England, in which Oregon and Canada were 4ikely to be 
added to the free North, would not be permitted by the slave power : 
That such a war would prove to be one of emancipation : That the black 
regiments of the British \ Vest Indies would be landed upon our southern 
shores : That devastation by fire and sword would render the cotton 
States desolate : That the slave interest could not be induced to engage 
in such a war. These avowals occasioned great sensation : But Mr. Adams 



250 THE SLAVE POWER FRIGHTENED. 

followed them with the distinct assertion that he was in favor of holding 
the territory notwithstanding the consequences ; but be declared his 
apprehension that the President would recede from his position, and 
would accept the British proposition to make the forty-ninth parallel of 
latitude the boundary line between the two governments. 

The whig press throughout the country denounced Mr. Adams and 
the writer as advocates of war ; but the President now faltered in his 
course. In a message to the Senate he stated the difficulties which lay 
in the way of obtaining the territory between the forty-ninth and fifty- 
fourth parallels of latitude, and asked the advice of that. body as to his 
future action. The Senate advised him to accept the British proposi- 
tion for making the forty-ninth parallel the boundary. The President 
acted according to this advice, and the whole matter was pacifically 
arranged. 

But while the slave power thus avoided a war with England, its ad- 
vocates appeared anxious for hostilities with Mexico. That government, 
distrusted and feeble, was known to be utterly unable to resist a large 
military force, and it was believed that we could wage a war upon her 
people with impunity. 

No sooner had Congress passed the act of annexation than Mr. Tyler, 
on the eve of retiring from the Presidency, dispatched a messenger to 
inform the authorities of Texas of what had occurred. And Mr. Polk 
had scarcely reached the Presidential chair, when he ordered our army 
to " Corpus Christi," situated at the mouth of the Nueces, that being the 
then boundary between Texas and Mexico, and the farthest point to 
which Texan authority had extended. 

When the President received notice that Texas accepted the terms of 
annexation, he immediately informed the two Houses of Congress, to 
enable that body to consummate the outrage upon the constitutional 
rights of the people of the free States, by declaring Texas o"ne of the 
States in the Federal Union. Massachusetts and Connecticut had pro- 
tested against the consummation of the proposed union. Many . re- 
monstrances from the people of other free States were presented 
for the consideration of Congress. The writer, a member of the House 
of Representatives, presented to the consideration of that body a series 
of resolutions, declaring, " That the maintenance, the continuance and 
existence of slavery must depend exclusively upon the power and authority 
of the State.8 in which it exists. 

" 2d. That the Federal Government, possessing no powers except 
those expressly delegated to it by the several States, is destitute of all 
authority to establish, extend or perpetuate slavery. 



THE MEXICAN WAR COMMENCED. 251 

"3d. That all attempts of Congress, or the Executive, to associate a 
foreign slaveholding people in the administration of the laws of our 
nation are in palpable violation of the Constitution, destructive to the 
interests and honor of the free States, and subversive of the fundamental 
principles of liberty. 

" ith. That the admission of Texas to the Federal Union, upon terms 
( allowing each holder of five slaves the same political influence and power 
over the rights of the free States as that exercised by four of our free 
educated citizens of the North, will constitute an outrage upon the rights 
and honor of the citizens of the free States unequalled in the history of 
civilized governments. 

"6* That a voluntary surrender of the rights of the free States to 
the keeping of foreign slaveholders is unworthy of the representatives of 
a free people." 

These resolutions were laid upon the table, and the annexation of 
lexas was consummated by a vote of Ul to 56.' The entire democratic 
party voting in the affirmative, while many of the whig party failed 
to vote. 

At this time General Taylor was in command of our troops, and his 
advanced guard was at Brownsville, on this side of the Rio Grande 
Opposite Matamdras. It was at least one hundred miles advanced into 
Mexican territory, beyond the farthest point to which the jurisdiction of 
Texas had extended : And the first blood that was shed in the Mexican 
war was that of some deserters of our army, who, being pursued by a 
sergeant and guard, attempted to swim the river, but were fired upon 
and killed by our own troops, without being arrested, tried, or sentenced.* 

On the 12th April some sixty dragoons, while reconnoitering 
were drawn into an ambuscade ; fifteen were killed and wounded,' m6 ' 
and the whole party were taken prisoners. 

On the 9th May rumors reached Washington of the commencement of 
hostilities. It was on Saturday, after the adjournment of both Houses 
of Congress. During Sabbath the Committee on Military Affairs met 
and before sunset it was rumored that they had agreed on a report 
declaring war against Mexico. Hostilities had been constantly foretold 

* This exercise of a barbarous despotism was brought to the attention of the House of Repre<en- 
tat.ves by the wnter, who cited a case from the American State papers, where, dul! the 1st 
Semmo.e war, some deserters were shot by their pursuers, while the commandant of the t~ C 
B^g was absent from the post on business ; but on his return be failed to arrest and JyZe who 
perpetrated the murders; and the facts being known at headquarters, he was himself arresTed 
courtmarUalied and sentenced to suspension from service and pay for five year, This Lntence' 
was approved by the President; but Congress, learning the facte, adopted a joint relTZ 
requcHfcng the Present to strike the name of Col. King from the roil of the armv, and it was *£ 
But no edort could induce the democratic party now in power to examine the subject 



2o2 A CONGRESSIONAL FALSEHOOD. 

by those who opposed the annexation of Texas, and had been as con- 
stantly denied by the friends of that measure. But the latter now 
changed their position, and unblushingly urged the necessity of war, the 
conquest cf territory, and the extension of slavery. 

On Monday morning the President sent his message to the two 

Houses of Congress, declaring that " American blood had been shed on 

American soil," and arraigning the Government of Mexico for her past 

doty, called on Congress to provide the means for sustaining 

the rights, interests and honor of the American people. 

The message being read, was, together with the accompanying papers, 
referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. They reported a bill, 
declaring that " war existed by the act of Mexico," and in one hour from 
the reference of the message, the bill, with this flagrant falsehood for its 
preamble, passed the House, of Representatives with only fourteen i . - 
sent ins votes. The names of members voting against the falsehood that 
war existed by act of Mexico, were from — 
Massachusetts. Messrs. Adams, Ashman, Grinnell, Hudson and - 

King ° 

Maine. . . . Mr. Severance - 

Rhode Island. Mr. Cranston } 

New Fork. . Mr. Culver 1 

Pennsylvania. Mr. Strohm 1 

Ohio. . . . Messrs. Delano, Giddings, Boot, Tilden and Vance 5 

No sooner was this falsehood fairly incorporated in our legislative 
annals, than members of the democratic party boasted that Oongi • - 
would be no longer troubled with the agitation of matters relating to 
slavery. This feeling arose from the conviction entertained by politicians 
generally, that war was always popular, without respect to its justice or 
inji But the reformers of that day were not to be driven from 

their purp ae by unmeaning apprehensions founded on moral cowardi 

Ou the following day, while the House were engaged in considering a 
bill to raise a company of miners and pontouiers, the writer in a speech 
slated that our nation had waged a war of conquest against an unoffend- 
ing nation for the purpose of extending the curse of human bondage ; 
and declared that God had no attribute that would permit him t - 
upon such crime : That all past history and experience had proven that 
wtien an'/ government attempted to extend its boundaries by ct by 

robbing ■ ns and people of their territory, such aggressive govern- 

ment had fallen beneath the iceigkt of its own crimes : That our NAT] 

WOULD KOI PROVE AN EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 



MR. CALHOUN LOSES HIS INFLUENCE. 253 

The Hon. Columbus Delano, of Ohio, also seized upon the first oppor- 
tunity to express his detestation of the 'war thus commenced, as did 
Mr. Culver, of New York, and others as they had opportunity. The 
bill declaring war came before the Senate the next day, when the par- 
tisans of that body appeared anxious to pass it without examination 
or delay. Mr. Calhoun, the leader of the slaveholding hosts, now 
found that he had " raised the whirlwind " but " could not direct the 
storm." He had led in the annexation of Texas, cherishing the hope 
that he could extend the institution of slavery without involving the 
nation in *war ; but he now found himself the feeble instrument of a 
powerful and inexorable party bent upon hostilities. It was in vain that 
he- asked delay. It was in vain that he declared the measure too im- 
portant for hasty action. Partisan leaders were excited under the 
conviction that a war would confirm the democratic party in the pos- 
session of political power, and would effectually suppress all opposition. 
Every democratic Senator, except Mr. Calhoun, voted for the pending 
bill with its mendacious preamble, declaring that war existed by the act 
of Mexico, although it was notorious that our troops were at least 
a hundred miles within the territory belonging to that government. Mr. 
Calhoun hesitated, faltered, and refused to vote with his party on 
a subject which he foresaw must bring upon its authors a responsibility 
which he was unwilling to assume. Messrs. Berrien, of Georgia, and 
Evans, of Maine, who had acted with the whig party, refused to vote 
either for or against the bill ; and Messrs. Thomas Clayton, of Delaware, 
and Davis, of Massachusetts, voted against it. ' The bill passed that 
body by 40 ayes to 2 nays, and in one year from the annexation of 
Texas the nation was plunged into a war of devastation and bloodshed, 
which cost the expenditure of three hundred millions of treasure and 
eighty thousand fives. 

The advocates of slavery now appeared to feel themselves perfect 
masters of the Government ; and equally conscious that the advocates 
of freedom were entirely at the control of the slave power. They 
spoke of those who voted against the war as ranking with the Federalists 
who voted against that of 1812. They assumed that to oppose the war 
was to oppose the Government ; and spoke of all who condemned the 
war as traitors to the honor and the interests of the nation. The super- 
cilious arrogance with which slaveholders spoke of the advocates of liberty 
became disgusting, and at times the resentment of members was not 
dis uised.* 

* An Instance of this character occurred in the House of Representatives. Hon. Barclay 
Martin, of Kentucky, assailed Hon. Luther Severance, of Maine, in abusive terms of personal 



254 INTRIGUE WITH SANTA ANNA. 

While the war was thus inaugurated, there was at the same time a 
plan set on foot for bringing it to an immediate close. This plan con- 
sisted of an intrigue with Santa Anna, the exiled President of the 
Mexican republic, to get him back to Mexico, place him in power, and 
then buy a peace of him. The plan succeeded in part. Santa Anna 
entered willingly into it. He was permitted to pass our blockading ships 
into Mexico by order of the Executive. But when in his own country 
his influence was not sufficient to carry out the object of his return, and 
the war continued contrary to the intentions and expectations of those 
who commenced it.* 

The people of the United States now found themselves precipitated 
into a war for the extension and perpetuation of slavery. Yet among 
both Whigs and Democrats a general impression prevailed that to oppose 
a war in which our country was engaged would be unpopular, and but 
few statesmen or politicians were willing openly to denounce hostilities 
commenced and carried on for the support of slavery. 

Reflecting men now saw clearly the necessity of a political organization, 
based upon the principles of the Declaration of Independence, in order 
to emancipate the people of the free States from the despotic domi- 
nation of the slave power. Every suggestion of such a plan was met, 
however, with the cowardly objection that it would occasion the dis- 
solution of the Union. This had become the general, the conclusive 
argument against every measure in opposition to slaveholding dictation. 

The " liberty party," as it was then called, controlled some fifty 
thousand votes in the United States. At its head was Hon. James Gr. 
Barney, a man of ability, a native of Kentucky. He liberated his own 
slaves aud proclaimed immediate unconditional emancipation the duty 
of every slaveholder, characterizing the institution as a political, moral 

disrespect, for having expressed his honest convictions in regard to the Mexican war. Mr. 
Severance was a man of feoble physical powers, while Martin possessed more than an ordinary 
athletic frame. On Rearing the assault made upon Mr. Severance, a few friends of hra held a short 
consultation and requested tho writer to reply to Martin. The request, was complied with. The 
writer assumed as his own the doctrines and views of Mr. Se\erance, and then inquired by what 
authority Martin had offensively assailed them? He closed by saying the speech of Martin 
"exhibited a sterile brain, a vicious Heart, and a dastardly spirit." The offensive words 
appeared in all the city papers on the following morning. 

Martin feeling uncertain as to the course which he ought to pursue, called his col 
leagues together for consultation. It was at once declared Improper to challenge the writer, as 
he would only ridicule the man who should do it. It was also agreed that it would be a hazardous 
business to attempt personal chastisement on the street, as usual at the South. And it was finally 
agreed that Martin's only course was a public reply in the House of Representatives. This he 
never attempted. On his return home he was charged with pocketing the insult, was defeated at 
the next election, and never more appeared in public life. 

* This statement is made principally upon the authority of Col. Benton, who was at the time a 
leading Democrat, having access to their councils. ( Vide Benton's " Thirty Years in the Senate.") 



INDIAN TROUBLES ON ACCOUNT OF SLAVERY. 255 

and social evil, and a violation of justice : He maintained the very obvious 
truth that all human enactments in favor of upholding it were morally 
null and void, imparting no moral right to the slaveholder and imposing 
no moral obligation upon the slave. 

But this doctrine, although correct, had since 1193 been repudiated 
by those who administered the government, and was now regarded as 
very unpopular : The past action of men in public life was generally con- 
sidered conclusive upon statesmen and people, and it became evident 
that the "liberty party" could never obtain control of the Govern- 
ment ; and the hopes of reformers now rested upon the Declaration of 
Independence and that construction of the Constitution wn i c h left to 
each State the right to be perfectly free from the expense, disgrace and 
turpitude of slavery. 

Mr. Adams, pressing mo/e prestige than any other statesman of that 
period, refused t'» unite in any political organization ; but acting inde- 
pendently of all political associations, continued to advocate the doctrines 
which had previously characterized his public life. 

News from the Indian country, west of Arkansas, informed u 
Congress that several of those western tribes were on the verge 
of war. The Creeks had their territory allotted to them by metes and 
bounds. The Cherokees also lived upon their own lands, set apart 
by well defined limits. The treaty of Pfcyneta Landing had been 
enforced upon the Semiuoles without the consent of that tribe ; the ad- 
ministration having apparently determined to compel them to settle with 
the Creeks for the purpose of allowing those Savages to reenslave the 
Exiles or colored people then living with the Semiuoles, then- ancestors 
having fled from South Carolina in 1705.* But when the Seminoles 
and their friends, the Exiles, reached the Indian country west of 
Arkansas, they were not allowed to go on to lands of their own, accord- 
ing to solemn stipulation ; but were told they must settle upon the 
Creek territory, under Creek laws. This would enable the Creeks to 
reenslave the Exiles, according to the obvious intentions of the admin- 
istration. These Exiles had for many years proven a great annoyance 
to slaveholders, and the federal administration sympathizing with 
the slave interest, was anxious to see them reeuslaved, in order to render 
the institution more secure. But the Seminoles refused to go within the 
jurisdiction of the Creek nation, and settled upon lands belonging to the 
Cherokees. The Creeks were disappointed in not being able to reenslave 
the Exile-. The Cherokees were dissatisfied at having their lands 

* Vide " Exiles of Florida," where the historic facts in regard to those people are collected in a 
small volume. 



256 SEMINOLES AND NEGE0E8 FLEE TO MEXICO. 

occupied by the Seminoles, and the Seminoles were dissatisfied at not 
having lands set off to them according to the supplemental treaty entered 
into between them and the Government of the United States. 

To save bloodshed, commissioners were sent to the Western Country 
to form a treaty with those several tribes and thereby maintain peace on 
our western frontier. This object was effected by induciug the Seminoles 
aud Exiles to settle upon the Creek lands. The President agreed to 
settle all questions of slavery between the Creeks and Seminoles, and the 
United States to compensate the Creeks for all slaves, to whom they 
should establish a title. Before the treaty was puplished, a bill making 
appropriations for carrying^ into effect was reported, and came before the 
House for consideration. This policy, fraught with such corruption, was 
exposed and the attention of the nation called to it. The Creeks called 
for indemnity under the treaty. The Executive, with the eyes of the 
nation upon him, appeared unwilling to act upon questions in regard to 
slavery. He disregarded the demands of the Creeks, who now seized 
about one hundred of the Exiles and sold them into slavery in Louisiana. 
The other Exiles and a portion of the Seminoles fled towards Mexico, 
pursued by Creek warriors ; a battle was fought, many of the Creeks 
were killed, and the remainder returned to their country, while the 
Exiles and their Seminole friends pursued their way far beyond the Rio 
Grande into Mexico, and settled near a place called " Santa Rosa," 
where they yet reside.* 

A barbarous persecution of these inoffensive people had characterized 
the action of the Federal Government since a.d. 1190, and now con- 
stitutes one of the darkest pages of American history. 



* Vide " Exiles of Florida." 



AN ADDITIONAL MILITARY FORCE CALLED FOE. 257 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE WAR WITH MEXICO CONTINUED — THE LAST SPEECH OF A VENERABLE 

STATESMAN. 

At the opening of the second session of the twenty-ninth Con- |- 1846 
gress the popular feeling against the Mexican war was far 
more general than had been expected, on account of the greater 
expense of blood and treasure than its advocates anticipated. To 
meet this feeling, the President, in his annual message, attempted to 
vindicate the course, of himself aud party. Relying upon the dignity 
of his position to shield his message from jnst criticism, he embraced 
within it gross fabrications, misrepresentations, and sophisms ; but its 
weakness was ridiculed, its mendacity exposed, and its moral oblivious- 
ness was held up to the condemnation of the public. Members now 
spoke of the President as they would of an ordinary politician, and his 
annual message was treated with the same criticism that was bestowed 
upon the partisan speeches of members of Congress. 

The advocates of freedom assumed a more bold and fearless position, 
d^laring that the time was rapidly approaching when the political issue 
would be made between slavery and freedom, without disguise or evasion ;- 
that it were in vain longer to threaten a dissolution of the Union : That 
submission to the slave power had become intolerable and could not 
much longer be borne by the people of the free States. 

The President in his message called for an additional military force, 
in order to subjugate Mexico. This proposition was resolutely opposed 
by the advocates of freedom ; the bill passed the House of Representa- 
tives by aid of party discipline ; but met with resistance in the Senate, 
where the influence of Mr. Calhoun was exerted in favor of a policy 
which he characterized as one of " masterly inactivity." 

The difficulties with which the bill was beset in the Senate aroused 
the ire of some leading slaveholders ; and the venerable Thomas 
Ritchie, editor of the "Union" and printer to that body, assailed 
the members with such offensive imputations on account of their want 
of zeal in the prosecution of the war, that he was exp. 'led from the hall 
in which its sessions were held. 

17 



258 THE PRESIDENT DESPONDS. 

Early in the session Mr. Thommason, of Kentucky, who had voted for 
the war, offered resolutions declaring the restoration of peace desirable, 
and the acquisition of territory from Mexico impolitic and wron \ 

Mr. Ficklin, of Illinois, offered resolutions vindicating the war and 
declaring it the duty of all good citizens to support it. But neither the 
resolutions of Mr. Thommason nor those of Mr. Ficklin were considered 
or voted upon. 

Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, who had also voted for the war, offered reso- 
lutions to withdraw our army from Mexico and to prosecute the war by 
blockading the Mexican ports. 

Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, offered resolutions for terminating the war 
without acquiring territory, and, on the question of adoption, they failed 
by a vote of 16 ayes to 88 nays. 

In the Senate, Mr. Calhoun proposed to withdraw the army to a 
certain line, and to station it along that line, which should thereafter 
constitute our frontier, and the duty of the army should be confined to 
its defence. 

. Our army in Mexico was also suffering from sickness. Officers 

and soldiers were falling victims to disease, and the difficulties 
and burdens attendant upon hostilities appeared even greater than had 
been foretold by opponents of the war. 

It was under these circumstances that the President became dis- 
couraged, and directed an order to be made by the Secretary of War for 
withdrawing our troops from Mexico. The order was actually made out 
and was to be sent to General Taylor on the following day, when Mr. 
Benton, learning the facts, hastened to the Presidential mansion, and 
dissuaded the Executive from a measure so just of itself, but which 
would have defeated the very objects for which the war was commenced, 
to wit, the acquisition of territory over which to extend slavery* 

No effort was neglected that would conduce to the perfect transforma- 
tion of our Government to a slaveholding and slave-supporting oligarchy. 
On the 2d March, the civil and diplomatic appropriation bill was 
returned from the Senate to the House, with an amendment granting to 
the owners of slaves on board the " Amistad" fifty thousand dollars, as 
a compensation for their loss. 

The reader will bear in mind that the slaves, while at sea, had achieved 
their liberty by killing the master and mate of the vessel and taking 
possession of it, and finally landed on the Connecticut coast. The first 
question presented in considering the claim was, whether these ignorant, 

♦ This statement is made upon the authority of Colonel Benton in his " Thirty Tears." 



MR. ADAMS' LAST SPEECH. 259 

barbarous Africans held, in common with the human family, the right 
of life and liberty. For, if they had received this right from the Creator, 
it must of course be proper and just for all men and all nations, and 
governments and people, to respect the rights with which the Creator 
had endowed them. 

When the amendment came up for consideration iu the House of Re- 
presentatives, the writer moved to disagree to it, and briefly assigned 
his reasons, asserting that, in resuming their natural rights to life aud 
liberty, the slaves merely discharged a positive duty, which they owed to 
themselves, to their posterity and ' the world of mankind ; and that, in 
slaying those who held them in bondage, they had executed retributive 
justice upon piratical davedealers, whose appropriate reward was the 
gallows ; that it was an insult to the laboring men of the free States to 
ask them to contribute of their earnings to compensate men whose voca- 
tion was a traffic in human flesh. 

While the author was commenting on the facts of the case, the coun- 
tenance of Mr. Adams seemed lighted up with an unusual glow of ani- 
mation. He had sustained a paralytic shock in December previous, and 
for a time was not expected to recover ; but he possessed an unusual 
constitution, which enabled him to return to Washington. He at all 
times insisted that this attack constituted his political and moral death. 
No persuasion could induce him to speak or write for the public. But 
on hearing this question debated, he appeared to forget his infirmity. 
His love of truth, justice and liberty appeared to glow in every linea- 
ment of his countenance. 

No sooner had the writer closed his remarks than the illustrious 
statesman arose to speak. Soon as he was announced in possession of 
the floor, members, leaving their seats, gathered in a dense mass 
around him, to listen to what was regarded by all as the last public 
speech of that moral hero. Reporters left their desks with pencil and 
paper, and rushing within the bar, where they could hear his voice, now 
enfeebled by age, endeavored to sketch the last speech of the vene- 
rable patriot. His utterance was low, and his voice tremulous ; but his 
theme was worthy of angels. As he proceeded, his voice became stronger 
and his utterance more distinct ; and although he had attained to the 
age of nearly four score years, and was enfeebled by paralysis, yet he 
spoke worthy of himself and of his past life. Southern members, who 
had in former times assailed him with great bitterness, now got as neat 
to him as possible, in order to catch the last words of him whose voice 
had so often resounded through those halls, but who was now so ob- 
viously passing away. 



260 THE AMENDMENT EEJECTED. 

When he had closed his remarks, the vote in favor of disagreeing to the 
amendment of the Senate was taken, and carried almost unanimously.* 

* This was the last speech of Mr. Adams. He tired more than a year subsequently to its delivery, 
and on two occasions expressed his opinion on important questions, but attempted no argument. 

The deep feeling which he entertained on the subject of liberty was illustrated while lying upon 
what was supposed to be his death-bed. A few days after he was attacked by paralysis the writer 

visited him. 

Soon after he entered the room the attendants left it, and alone in that ch amber of death he sat 
beside the dying statesman, who at once commenced a conversation upon the subject of human 
rights. The writer told him that he was too feeble to converse on a subject in n hich his feelings 
were so deeply interested. Looking the writer fully in the face, he said : " My dear friend, I am 
on the verge of eternity; I shall never see you again. I must talk with you on this subject which 
lies bo near our hearts." The writer made no further objection, and he proceeded in a conversation 
which is yet deeply impressed upon the writer's memory. At no period of his life had Mr. Adams 
exhibited a deeper solicitude for our Government, or for the rights of mankind, than he did on that 
folemn occasion. 



HON. E. C. WINTHROP CHOSEN SPEAKER. 261 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

DISCIPLINE OF POLITICAL PARTIES — PEACE WITH MEXICO — IMPORTANT QUES- 
TIONS ARISING UPON THE TREATY THE LAST SLATE PRISON OP WASHING- 
TON — DEATH OF MR. ADAMS — CLAIMS FOR DEPORTED SLAVES UNDER THE 
TREATY OF GHENT. 

At the assembling of the thirtieth Congress, the whig party ri84T 
selected the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, as their can- 
didate for Speaker. He was a gentleman of education and an accom- 
plished parliamentarian, but he had exhibited indecision in regard to the 
annexation of Texas, and after the outrage had been perpetrated, he 
listened to avow his concurrence in the act. He had also voted for the 
Mexican war. From these circumstances some members were led to 
distrust his devotion to the cause of freedom : and the Hon. John G- 
Palfrey, one of his colleagues, sent him a note inquiring whether, if 
elected Speaker, he would so arrange the committees of the House as to 
secure respectful answers to petitions from the people of the free States 
touching slavery ? To this kind inquiry Mr. Winthrop refused to give 
any direct answer ; but referred his colleague to his past action as 
evidence of his future coarse. With this answer Messrs. Palfrey, of 
Massachusetts, Tuck, of New Hampshire, and the writer were not 
satisfied, and refused to vote for him although they had previously acted 
with the whig party. 

Fourteen Democrats refused to vote for Mr. Boyd, of Kentucky, who 
was the candidate of the democratic party. Their objection to Mr. 
Boyd was that he had voted for the Mexican war and against the exclu- 
sion of slavery from the territory proposed to be obtained from Mexico. 

On the second ballot two Democrats refused to vote in order that Mr. 
■Winthrop might be elected. His vote being 110, the refusal of the two 
southern Democrats gave him precisely a majority of one vote and se- 
cured his election. 

It was well understood that leading Whigs in the North and in the 
South were endeavoring to concentrate the voice of their party for 
President upon General Taylor, an officer in the American army who 
had never served his country in any civil capacity j and whose popularity 
had risen entirely from his gallant bearing upon the battle-field. To 



262 PAKTY DESPOTISM ILLUSTRATED. 

sustain him for that high position, a paper called the " National Whig" 
had been established in the city of Washington. 

On the 10th December this paper appeared with its leader entirely 
devoted to Messrs. Palfrey, Tuck and Giddings, arraigning them in lan- 
guage at once supercilious and offensive, for daring to vote against the 
whig candidate for Speaker. The editor declared he would send two 
thousand copies of the paper containing this article into their districts. 
Thus was the watchword sent forth from the city of Washington that 
these members were to be persecuted and denounced for maintaining 
their independence. 

Nor did the "National Whig" stand alone in this work of detrac- 
tion. Leading whig papers in the free States followed the example 
of their national organ, and as the writer had served long in Congress, 
the weight of their calumny was thrown upon him, apparently iutending 
to make an example of him in order to deter others from offending. 
But this attempt to browbeat members into subjection to party dicta- 
tion proved unfortunate for the organization : It drove many good men 
from the party and constituted an important step towards its total dis- 
bandment.* 

But this party discipline was carried out more perfectly in the demo- 
cratic organization. Indeed, the watchword of "party" had superseded 
that of moral truth and justice in both organizations; and at that 
time controlled their action. The slave States were generally united 
upon the support of slavery, and the democratic party, ever subservient 
to that institution, held almost undisputed sway over the Government 
and nation. 

These circumstances contributed to the formation of a third party, dis- 
tinctly founded upon those moral principles on which the Constitution 
and Government had been based. But the anti-slavery party, to which 
attention has already been called, was not only impracticable, but was 
controlled by men wanting that political experience necessary to render 
it popular. 

These facts showed clearly that the new party must base its action 
upon the Constitution, and maintain the rights of the free States to 



* Leading papers in Ohio, and one of those published in the district represented by the writer, 
openly pronounced him "an apostate,''' and attacked him with great bitterness for thus setting at 
defiance the behest of the leaders of the party in order to maintain his devotion to moral truth and 
political principle. This called out the writer in vindication of his conduct, showing the reasons why 
he would not vote for Mr. Winthrop. That gentleman feeling aggrieved, replied to the writer, and a 
most unpleasant personal and political controversy arose between them, which continued for some 
four or five years, when Mr. Winthrop, as the whig party diminished in power and influence, retired 
to private life. 



OFFICIAL INTRIGUE OF THE SPEAKER. 263 

be exempt and entirely free from the burdens, disgrace and guilt of 
supporting slavery. v The action of Messrs. Palfrey, Tuck and Giddings 
in the election of Speaker was regarded as the germ from which the free- 
soil party of 1S4S first sprung ; although neither of them had any such 
thought or expectation at the time of voting. 

The President, in his annual message, spoke more confidently of the 
Mexican war, referred with exultation to the victory won at the battle 
of " Buena Vista/' and openly avowed his intention to obtain from Mexico 
territory as an indemnity for the vast expenses incurred, reiterating 
the mendacious assertion that Mexico had commenced the war. 

The Whigs had control of the House of Representatives. The 
- aker was a Whig, and the committees were all arranged by him in 
such manner as to effect the political objects which he had in view. 
The first of these was the election of General Taylor. But the next, 
which appeared most important, was the furnishing to the democratic 
President all supplies which he demanded for the prosecution of the 
war, th-' devastation of .Mexico, and earning out the designs of the 
slave power in obtaining territory over which to spread the institution 
of human bondage. The committees were also arranged so as to make 
no reports in answer to the respectful petitions of northern people for 
the abolition of the coastwise Blave trade, of slavery, and the slave 
trade in the District of Columbia and in the Territories. Tims was the 
influence of both whig and democratic parties united for the extension of 
territory, the strengthening of the -lave power, the increase of southern 
influence, and preparation of the slave States to assert their indepen- 
dence, and overthrow the (iovernmcut which all had sworn to support.* 

The opening of this Congress was marked by the introduction to the 
Senate of lion. John P. Hale, a bold and able defender of the constitu- 
tional rights of the free States. He had been a Democrat ; but while 
serving in the House of Representatives had opposed the annexation of 
Texas, and was repudiated by his party. Returning to his native land, 
he reared the standard of truth, justice and constitutional liberty, and 
after politically regenerating his State was returned to the Senate, having 
richly earned the confidence which the people reposed in him for many 
years. In the dignified body to which he now belonged he was regarded 

* When the writer was first assailed for refusing to vote for Mr. Winthrop to the office of Speaker, 
he foretold in the most explicit language that that officer would arrange the committees in the 
manner described in the text. Friends remonstrated with him for asserting these things before they 
occurred, saying Mr. Winthrop would not do it after his action had been thus foretold and 
denounced. But the writer replied that he well understood the elements of that gentleman's mind, 
and that he did not possess the heroism, nor the moral courage, to do otherwise than the writer had 
predicted. 



264 QUESTION OF EXTENDING SLAVERY. 

as a pioneer of a future organization, which many believed was destiucd 
to sway the Government of the Republic. 

The war with Mexico was so palpably unjust, that the clergy of New 
England, to the number of two thousand nine hundred and thirty, ad- 
dressed a respectful memorial to Congress, asking the withdrawal of our 
army, and that our Government would offer an atonement for the injury 
inflicted upon her people. The memorial was presented by Mr. Hale, 
"and was committed to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, who, accord- 
ing to the policy of both Houses and of both the leading parties, con- 
signed it to the Clerk's office, from which it was never exhumed. 
,.,„, Mr. Dickinson, of New York, offered resolutions in the Senate, 

1848. J . , 

declaring it the true policy of our Government to obtain territory 
of Mexico, but not to establish or prohibit slavery therein. Mr. Yulee, 
of Florida, sustained them ; but, on motion of Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, 
they were laid on the table. 

Mr. Bagby, of Alabama, offered resolutions declaring that neither the 
people nor the Legislature of a territory possess the authority to prohibit 
slavery therein ; and that such Legislature has no authority, except such 
as may be delegated by Congress, and that Congress has no power to 
exclude slavery from any territory of the United States. These resolu- 
tions, after debate, were laid upon the table. 

Senator Niles, of Connecticut, presented resolutions from the Legis- 
lature of that State, asking Congress to prohibit slavery in any and in 
all territory that might be acquired from Mexico. Mr. Niles had long 
been a leading Democrat of his native State ; had been honored with the 
confidence of the Federal Executive ; and now, on presenting the reso- 
lutions, he declared they spoke the sentiments of the people of that 
State and of himself ; said that this question must be met, and advised 
the Senate to meet it promptly and justly. 

Mr. Baldwin, of Connecticut, also presented resolutions, declaring 
that it should be regarded as an unalterable law of every territory, that 
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should exist therein. 

Mr. Webster, of Massachusetts, presented a memorial from the people 
of Forwardsville, Virginia, asking Congress to appropriate the public 
lands to the extinguishment of slavery. 

Mr. Calhoun, having greater experience than any other statesman of 
the South, seemed alone to comprehend the difficulty which the slave 
power would bring upon itself by obtaining territory from Mexico, 
thereby increasing the intensity of that controversy which was already 
pending. He had been active in obtaining the annexation of Texas, 
for the purpose of extending and perpetuating the institution ; but 



MR. CALHOUN ABANDONS HIS PARTY. 265 

he had at all times insisted that it would not involve our nation in 
war. When told by the advocates of liberty that, as Texas was 
engaged in war with Mexico, the annexation of the State would 
necessarily bring with it the war in which the State was engaged, he 
had denied the proposition: Seeing his error in that respect, he now 
appeared to comprehend the evils which must result from obtain- 
ing territory, and to avoid them he presented resolutions declaring that 
the "conquest of territory from Mexico would be contrary to the; 
intentions of our Government in declaring war, a departure from its 
settled policy, subversive of our free and popular institutions ; and that 
no policy should be adopted that would lead to such disastrous conse- 
quence 

In explaining these resolutions, the distinguished Senator declared his 
original opposition to the war, said it was unnecessary, and asserted 
that the President had no authority to order our army into the dis- 
puted territory, while Mexico was in actual possession ; and asserted 
that the preamble in the l)ill, declaring that "war existed by act of 
Mexico, was untrue, and he believed would lead to great and senilis 
evils." 

No Senator appeared willing to take issue with him, who had so long 
stood forth as the master ruling spirit of the South. He now fully coin- 
cided with the views of Mr. Adams and his political friends touching 
the war and the consequences growing out of it. But the party had 
advanced beyond his control, and the sun of his influence was evidently 
waning, like that of his natural life. 

The President, who was now the exponent of his party, did not 
hesitate to assume the most despotic powers incident to the prosecution 
of the war. Without any action of Congress, or authority of law, he 
levied a tariff of duties upon importations in all Mexican ports of which 
our army or navy held possession, and the long obsolete power of levying 
contributions upon captured cities was resumed.* 

The President justified these acts, saying they were equivalent to seizing 
upon the revenues of Mexico, and applying them to the support of the 
war ; thus denying that he was under obligation to await the action of 
Congress authorizing such procedure. But as there was no law making 
the President or the officers collecting this money responsible for its use, 
they were left to dispose of it according to their own judgments and 
consciences. 

In the House of Representatives, the war with its atrocities was the 

* At the time of writing these sketches, the whole democratic party are denouncing Uie Federal 
Administration and republican party for confiscating the property of rebels. 



266 MASSACHUSETTS SPEAKS. 

theme of debate ; and as it had been commenced aud carried on for 
the purpose of extending slavery, it was constantly scrutinized, its bar- 
barities and horrors were held up to public view, and the popular 
hatred of slavery was increased, and the conviction that the powers 
and influence of the Government were wielded for its benefit became 
more general. 

In the month of January Mr. Palfrey, of Massachusetts, spoke upon 
the President's message. He was a young member, but came to Con- 
gress with ' a high reputation as a scholar and philanthropist, having 
emancipated a large number of slaves who descended to him by the death 
of his father, who resided in the South. His speech was listened to with 
strict attention, and was characterized by great ability and a profound 
devotion to the cause of truth. Mr. Adams was an attentive listener to 
the whole of Mr. Palfrey's address, and as that gentleman resumed his 
seat the venerable ex-President, with a countenance glowing with intelli- 
gence, exclaimed : " Thank God, the seal is broken ! Massachusetts 
speaks ! " apparently realizing the extent of the victory which had been 
obtained in behalf of free speech. 



The treaty of peace v^ith Mexico brought with it a vast ex- 
tent of territory, from which slavery had been excluded by 



J 

Mexican law. The ordaining of territorial governments in New Mexico 
and California was necessary, and the establishment in, or exclusion 
of slavery therefrom constituted an important question for Congress to 
decide. 

The annexation of Texas had been urged under the usual argument 
that it was necessary to save the Union. But the very act which southern 
statesmen had urged as necessary to save the Union had produced agita- 
tion and presented more difficult and more dangerous questions than had 
been previously agitated. 

Oregon, California and New Mexico belonged to the United States, 
but their status in regard to slavery was to be decided, and the attention 
of the people of the free as well as of the slave States was intensely 
turned to that question. 

In speaking on this subject, Hon. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, said : 
"The fact that the slave is property, which the owner may carry with 
luni into any part of the Union, is that which they (the South) are 
desirous to see recognized. The clause in the Constitution relative to 
the. regulation of commerce is a constitutional admission that a slavo 
is property- It is because slaves are considered property that the im- 
portation of slaves from Africa has been carried on under this clause 
of the Constitution. The words slaves or any other property in the Constitu- 



VOTE ON THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 267 

tion are conclusive on this point.* If the existence of property in slaves 
be admitted, what power has Congress to interfere with it ? Entering a 
territory with his property, the citizen has a right to its protection." 

A number of citizens resident in Washington addressed a memorial 
to Congress, asking that body to abolish the slave trade carried on in 
that city. The memorial was intrusted to the writer, who moved its 
reference to the appropriate committee. But Mr. Clingman of North 
Carolina, moved to lay it on the table. All the members from the slave 
States, except Mr. Houston, of Delaware, voted to lay the memorial on 
the table, together with the following members from the free States 
to wit : ' 

Maine. . . . Messrs. Clapp, Clark, Hammons, Williams, and 

Wiley, 5 

New Hampshire. Mr. Johnson, ... i 

New York. . Messrs. Birdsall,' Collins, and Murphy 3 

Pennsylvania. . « Brodhead, Brown, and Ness, ' 3 

° HI ° " Dickinson, Kennon, Miller, Richie, and 

Sawyer, 5 

Indiana. ... " p et it, Robbinson, and Wick, .' 3 

Illinois. ... « Ficklin, McClernand, Richardson, and 

Smith, 4 

The other members from the free States voted against laying the petition 
on the table ; the vote standing 92 ayes, 92 noes, the Speaker voted in 
the negative, and the motion being laid over never more came before 
the House. 

Slaveholders regarded themselves as possessing influence sufficient 
to insure the success of any measure favorable to the institution how- 
ever absurd. Thus the President recommended in his annual message 
an appropriation by Congress to compensate the Cuban slavedeale°rs 
for the loss of slaves, who asserted their liberty on board the schooner 
" Annstad," to which the attention of the reader has been thrice directed 
On the usual motion to refer the messages the writer called attention to 
this recommendation of the President, to tax the laboring freemen of 
the United States to sustain the Cuban slave trade. The message was, 

ofl o^hJn^r may ^ reg r ded ^ " SPedmen ° f the aCCUrac r and **■ or the great body 

i*TZ127^ D r T ? the - exlstence of *"»*+ in human flesh - Mr - Da ™ *>ub£ 

Se rtion vith u I ft™ * *' C ° nStitution - ™ he wou!d never have put forth the 

"T^ZT^T" Wh6therit ^ *-« '**> ™* -PPOsed that northern Senators 

ron!i„Hr a 'H hat IT are Pr0perty '" a,u '°«Sfc ^™* by the Convention that framed the 

S TpoSSaT y ed by Congress ' has been as often iterated and reiterated b ' -*- 



268 KIDNAPPING IN WASHINGTON. 

of course, referred, but the committee treated this portion of it as they 
were accustomed to treat anti-slavery petitions. It was no more heard 
from. 

The writer was in the habit of attacking every movement tending 
to make slavery a subject of national concern. And the barbarous 
character of the institution is well illustrated by an incident that 
occurred at his boarding-house during this session of Congress. 

A colored man, supposed to be free, with his wife and a boy of some 
ten years of age, was serving at the house referred to. He had been a 
slave, but by an arrangement with his owner, a widowed lady, he agreed 
to pay three hundred dollars for his freedom. Of that sum he held 
receipts for two hundred and forty dollars, and both he and his wife 
averred that the whole amount within fifteen dollars bad really been 
paid, and he was expecting to pay the remainder in a few days. Under 
these circumstauces a slavedealer of the city paid the owner three hun- 
dred dollars and took from her a bill of sale, of which the man had no 
notice. 

The slavedealer came to tbe house where the man was at work and 
with two assistants seized and bound him, and thrusting him into a hack, 
drove away. Tbe wife and boy were in great grief and consternation at 
the abduction. 

On inquiry the writer learned that the carriage had been driven to- 
wards tbe slave prison at the corner of Seventh street and Maryland 
Avenue ; and with Hon. Abram R. Mcllvaine, of Pennsylvania, he 
proceeded thither for information. 

The evening was clear and the moon shone pleasantly when they 
reacbed that abode of barbarous wretchedness. Tbe prison stood 
near the centre of an inclosure containing perhaps an acre and a 
half of land. Tbe windows were dark save one in which a fire light 
flickered dimly. No shrubbery or ornamental trees were to be seen, 
and the picket fence which surrounded the grounds was old and 
dilapidated. 

As the writer and his friend entered the gate, two men started from 
the bouse apparently to meet them. As they approached, one of them 
inquired if tbe writer, and bis friend wished to see Mr. Williams ? They 
responded affirmatively. " He is not at home," said tbe man. " Tben we 
will see bis agent," said tbe writer. " Beware of tbe dog I" said the man. 
At the same instant a fierce mastiff sprang at the visitants, but his chain 
was not of sufficient length to permit him to reach them. Passing 
around to tbe left, in order to avoid the dog, they reached the front 
door, at which they rapped loudly, there being no bell. A colored 



THE LAST SLAVE PRISON IN THE CITY. 269 

servant responded to the call. Opening the door, he stood in the dark 
pat-sage and inquired their business ? They told him they wanted to see 
the agent of Mr. Williams. Without bidding them to walk in he left, 
and soon the supposed agent appeared. He was a large man, apparently 
armed with bowie-knife and revolver, on the latter of which his right 
hand rested. The writer stated to him their business. He replied that 
he " had bought ' the nigger' and had paid six' hundred dollars for him ;" 
assured them " the boy" was anxious to go South. The writer inquired 
where " the boy " could be found. He answered, " that he had sent him 
to Alexandria, that he was already on board the ship which would sail 
that night." On this intelligence Mr. Mcllvaine and the writer placed 
no reliance, but bidding the slavedealer good night, walked away. 

Passing through the gate, they turned to look at this " slave-pen," 
standing in the midst of our national metropolis. All was dark and 
silent. The whole contour of the buildings and grounds appeared in 
harmony with the piratical vocation to which they were appropriated. 
Its inmates, both slavedealers and victims, appeared to be isolated from 
all sympathy and association with the moral world around them, as they 
were separated physically from all other buildings of the city. As they 
stood gazing at this monument of disgraceful barbarism, the writer re- 
flected upon the horrors, the unutterable grief, the despair, agony and 
suffering to which the victims of this domestic slave trade had been sub- 
jected within its walls. There an agonized mother, separated from her 
home and husband, had been imprisoned with her two children ; and as 
she mused upon the past, and contemplated the future, her mind was 
wrought up to frenzy, and in the maduess of the moment she seized 
upon her offspring and tore from them the life which God had given ; 
and then severing the thread of her own existence, she rushed unbidden 
to the pi'esence of her final judge. Her piratical purchaser, instead of 
abandoning his accursed vocation, prosecuted the former master for sell- 
ing him a vicious slave, and instead of receiving sentence of death for his 
crimes at the bar of American justice, he obtained indemnity for his loss 
at the hands of an American jury. 

From this gloomy prison a female of nineteen made her escape, in the 
vain hope that her eyes might once more rest on her beloved home and 
friends in Virginia : But the slavedealer and his assistant immediately 
put- ued her, and as she was crossing the "long bridge" south of the 
city, they came in sight of her, and called to some men at the opposite 
end to stop her. The men prepared to seize her. She turned towards 
her pursuers, but seeing no chance for escape, she leaped upon the para- 
pet, and as an invocation for mercy escaped from her lips, she plunged 



270 A MELANCHOLY INCIDENT. 

into the dark waters beneath, and sought from her heavenly Father that 
mercy which would save her from the slave trade, which was then sup- 
ported by both whig and democratic parties. This slave prison had 
been the scene of more crime and suffering than the French Bastile,: 
and as the writer and his friend turned to leave, they felt overwhelmed 
with the consciousness that this " last slave-pen of Washington City," 
this memento of barbarism, had too long disgraced our American land. 
On the following day the writer presented to the House of Represen- 
tatives a resolution reciting the principal facts above stated, and pro- 
viding for the appointment of a select committee to report a bill repeal- 
ing all laws of Congress which authorized the sale or purchase of human 
beings within the District of Columbia. 

A motion to lay the resolution on the table was made, and sustained 
by all the members from slave States, except Mr. Houston, of Delaware, 
and Jameson, of Missouri. The members from the free States voted as 
follows : 

Maine. Yea — Messrs. Clark and Williams, 2 

Nay — none. 
New Hampshire. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Tuck and Willson, 2 

Massachusetts. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Adams, Abbott, Grinnell, Hale, Hudson, 

King, and Rockwell, 7 

Rhode Island. Yea — none, 

Nay — Messrs. Cranston and Thurston, 2 

Connecticut. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Dixon, Hubbard, Rockwell, and Smith, . 4 
Yermont. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Collamer and Peck, 2 

New York. Yea — Messrs. Birdsall, Maclay, and Nicoll, . . 3 
Nay — Collins, Conger, Duer, Gott, Hall, Homes, Hunt, 
Jenkins, Kellogg, Sidney, Lawrence, William T. Law- 
rence, Petrie, Putnam, Rose, St. John, Sherrill, Sylves- 
ter, Tallmadge, Warren, and White, 20 

Pennsylvania. Yea — Messrs. Brodhead, C. I. Ingersoll, and 

Brown, 3 

Nay — Messrs. Blanchard, Butler, Dickey, Eckhart, Fa- 
relly, Friedly, Hampton, J. R. Ingersoll, Irwin, Mcll- 

vain, Mann, Pollock, Strohm, 13 

New Jersey. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Edsall, Gregory, Hampton, 3 



ASSAULTS ON THE SLAVE TRADE. 271 

Ohio. Yea — Messrs. Edwards, Farran, Kennon, Miller, Richey, 

and Taylor, 6 

Kay — Messrs. Cauby, Crowcll, Dickinson, Evans, Fisher, 
Fries, Giddings, Lahm, Root, Sawyer, Schenck, Yinton, 12 
Indiana. Yea — none. 

Kay — Messrs. Catlicart, Embree, Henry, Rockhill, Smith, 

and Thompson, 6 

Illinois. Yea — Messrs. Ficklin and Richardson, 2 

Nay — Messrs. Lincoln and Wentworth, 2 

Michigan . Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Bingham and Stuart, 2 

Iowa. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Lcffler and Thompson, 2 

The whole vote in favor of laying the resolution on the table, . 85 

Against it, 86 

At the announcement of the vote great sensation was visible among 
southern members. They appeared astonished that northern men 
should dare encourage any examination of the crimes attendant upon 
the domestic slave trade. Dilatory motions were next made and mes- 
sengers sent to call in absent members, and after an hour's delay 
another motion to lay on the table was made, and carried by a vote 
of 94 to 88. 

In the month of March, Mr. Tuck offered a resolution directing 
the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire into the propriety of 
prohibiting the sale of persons under process issuing from courts of 
the United States, but was unable to obtain a vote upon it : yet 
the result of these assaults upon the domestic slave trade, upon slavery 
in the District of Columbia, and in the Territories of the United States, 
appeared to be attended with far more effect than merely defensive mea- 
sures. 

The consciences of members were appealed to in regard to the Mexican 
war. Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, a Whig, offered a reso- 
lution thanking General Taylor, his officers and men, for their gallantry 
in prosecuting the war with Mexico. And the question whether Con- 
gress would tender thanks to men who had exhibited courage and gal- 
lantry in a war for the extension of slavery was presented for each mem- 
ber to decide ; but 181, then present, voted for the resolution, the writer 
alone voting in the negative. 

When the vote had been announced, the writer offered a preamble 
and resolutions, setting forth that " the true honor and glory of our Re- 
public consist in encouraging education, diffusing intelligence among 



272 MR. HALE AND THE WRITER, EACH STAND ALONE. 

the people, cultivating a knowledge of the arts and sciences, thereby pro- 
moting the happiness of mankind, leaving to other nations the enjoyment 
of the same rights which we claim for ourselves : That the welfare of 
our people requires that we shall abstain from all wars of aggression, 
by which a spirit of conquest is excited, and a love of military fame is 
stimulated, and the peaceful avocations and moral restaints of civil life 
are forgotten : Therefore, resolved that the thanks of Congress and 
the gratitude of the people are due to Hon. Albert Gallatin for his dis- 
tinguished efforts in the cause of truth, justice, peace, and humanity." 

Mr. Dunn, of Indiana, moved to lay the resolution on the table, and 
the motion was carried by a vote of 132 to 45. 

But the resolution of thanks to General Taylor, his officers and men, 
having passed the House, were sent to the Senate for concurrence. In 
that body, Mr. Hale opposed their adoption in an able speech, and on 
the vote being taken his name alone was recorded in the negative. 

For many years southern statesmen had urged upon the Government 
a system of free trade as a measure of justice to all parts of the Union, 
while some northern members felt that it would be destructive to slavery. 
Hon. David Willmot, of Pennsylvania, being earnestly in favor of free 
trade, offered resolutions declaring that the expenses of the Mexican 
war ought to be defrayed by a system of direct taxation. 

For this Mr. Willmot was most bitterly assailed by southern mem- 
bers, and charged with aiming a blow at the " peculiar institutions of 
the South," although he declared that in drawing up his resolutions, 
nor in presenting them, did the subject of slavery enter his mind. But 
the southern mind had become so excited, that every act of legislation 
was approved or discarded, according as its supposed bearing sustained 
or detracted from the influence of slavery. 

1848 , The fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth days of April were 
rendered memorable in the history of slavery's regime : And 
the writer believes he cannot give the reader a better idea of the habits 
and feelings of Congress, and of the people of our national metropolis, 
than by relating the incidents of those days somewhat in detail. 

On the morning of the 13th, an old schooner, of some hundred and 
fifty tons burden, was lying at the wharf below the long bridge, on the 
south side of the city. She had discharged her cargo of wood, and the 
captain, mate, and crew were lounging on the wharf, apparently waiting 
for a return cargo. 

At eleven o'clock that evening the writer was sitting in his room, 
when a friend called to inform him that the schooner referred to had 
sailed with some eighty slaves on board, bound for the North : The 



MOB VIOLENCE THREATENED. 273 

writer at once pronounced the plan ill-advised, and stated his apprehen- 
sions of a recapture. His friend soon left, but sleep fled from his eyes. 
To him it \\;is an anxious night. He watched the winds of heaven, on 
which the liberty and happiness of so many human beings depended. 

At length the morning dawned. It was the Sabbath. AH was 
quiet in the city, but the writer's thoughts, even while in church, dwelt 
upon the unfortunate men and women who were seeking liberty. 

As he was returning from worship, he was told that a large number 
of slaves had left the city, but no trace of their exodus could be disco- 
vered. At night, it was rumored that they had left on board a 
D hooner ; that large bounties had been bidden for their recapture and 
return ; and that a steamer had been chartered, and had started in 
pursuit of the fugitives. They had sailed with a fair wind, as far as the 
mouth of the river, but could not turn northward, as the wind wa3 
against them, and they dared not venture out upon the ocean, as the 
vessel's timbers were rotten. They therefore cast anchor, and lay quietly 
until captured by the steamer ; and by eight o'clock on Monday morn- 
ing, all were brought back to the city. 

A large crowd met them at the wharf ; and as the slave-catchers and 
then' victims slowly wended their way towards the city prison, the mass 
of spectators became so dense that the police were called on to aid 
the piratical slave-hunters in conveying their victims to the prison. While 
passing through the most populous parts of the city, the excited mob 
proclaimed vengeance upon every friend of liberty. The writer's name 
was often mentioned, his residence described, and threats of violence 
were uttered. 

Friends, who heard these imprecations, hurried to inform him. Others 
sent messengers ; and some sent notes, warning him to be on his guard. 
But Captain Drayton, and his mate Mr. Sayers, of the schooner, with 
the eighty-three negroes, were lodged in prison. 

The two Houses of Congress met at the usual hour. Members ap- 
peared anxious and solemn, as if some great calamity had befallen the 
nation. During the day, the writer received several notes, informing 
him of personal danger ; and at night, there was said to be indications 
of a mob, on Seventh street, in the vicinity of the General Postoffice. 

On Tuesday morning, after reading the Journal, the writer obtained 
the floor ; and no sooner was he announced by the Speaker, than 
southern members gathered around him. Soon as order was restored, 
he asked leave to present a resolution and preamble, setting forth 
" that Rumor represented that more than eighty persons were impri- 
soned in the United States jail, for the District of Columbia, with- 

18 



274 A PRO-SLAVERY MOB. 

out being charged with any crime or offence or impropriety, other than 
an attempt to enjoy that liberty for which our fathers had encountered 
toil, suffering, and death itself : and whereas such practice is deroga- 
tory to our national character, incompatible with the duty of a 
Christian people, and unworthy the support of an American Congress, 
therefore, Resolved, That a Select Committee of five members be ap- 
pointed to inquire into and report by what authority said prison is used 
for the purpose of confining persons who have attempted to escape 
from slavery ?" 

Members appeared excited. Mr. Meade objected to the reading of 
the resolution, and Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, proposed an inquiry, 
whether " the scoundrels who induced the slaves to escape, ought not to 
be hanged ?" But leave to introduce the resolution was not granted ; 
and such was the timidity of members, that the writer could not obtain 
the yeas and nays on the question of leave. 

At evening, the mob again gathered around the office of the " Na- 
tional Era," an anti-slavery paper, and committed some violence, break- 
ing the windows and window-blinds, and threatening the editor. But 
he behaved with great firmness, stepped out in front of his door, and 
addressed the excited mob ; and by his coolness, endeavored to prevent 
violence and bloodshed. And after a while, the police having made 
several arrests, the mob dispersed. 

Drayton and Sayers were in the prison, and constantly threatened 
with death, by violent hands. The situation of those men rested with 
much weight upon the writer's mind during the night, and he determined 
to visit them at the earliest suitable hour in the morning. Soon as 
breakfast was over on Wednesday, he started for the prison, but 
called to invite Mr. Hale of the Senate to go with him ; that gen- 
tleman was not in, and the writer passed on to the office of the 
" National Era," hoping to find him there. As he approached the 
building, the broken window-blinds and windows gave unmistakable 
evidence of the mob during the previous night. He found the editor, 
Dr. Bailey, at his table, writing a manifesto addressed to the public, 
which he intended to publish that day. Dr. Bailey objected to the 
writer's going to the jail, saying he might find it more dangerous than 
he expected. But he met with the Hon. Lawrence Brainard, a Senator 
from Vermont, who proposed to go with him, and who behaved with 
perfect coolness and firmness during their visit to the prison. Hon. E. 
S. Hamlin, of Ohio, formerly a member of the House of Representa- 
tives, also accompanied them. 

As they reached the prison, they found a sentinel in the yard outside 



THE PUBLIC JAIL A SLATE PEISON. 275 

the door, to whom they gave their names, and the object of their vi.it 

After some delay they were admitted, and found the vestibu of ^ 

pnson filled with men, most of whom were said to be sZe^tf i 

he foot of the stairs they passed through an iron gate, which thejaiit 

eked and gave the key to the guard stationed there ; and ascendrnJ he 

£m J ET2 Sh an ° tber ir ° n gate ' Which admitte <* them to he 

hi mto winch the cells of Drayton and Sayers opened. Throng 

grated doors the writer spoke to those men, stating his name and pod 

*on assuring them that he had come to inform them that ZyZmlol 

Su^T hat r r ch0l t rs threatened ' but the * would h - a "l- 

' ul, and that friends would see their legal rights protected. The/had 
been in great distress, not knowing their fate ; and on hearing the v 
of friendship and kindness, they were melted to tears 

While conversing with them, a mob obtained the key to the lower 
gate and ascending the stairs, called on the writer to retire immediately 
or his life would be in danger. He spoke kindly, saying he should 
soon be through with his business, and would then a^pany 1 
down stan* But the jailer assured them that the writer should not 

■-the all, until they returned and delivered up the key of the Sow" 
gate to the guard. The writer continued to converse with Drayton and 

tXe ' iUaUCCd thC m ° b t0 rCtir ° d0Wn stairs t0 2 

After he had concluded his conversation with the two prisoners 
he looked mto the other rooms, which were occupied by slaves and 
slave-dealers, who were examining their victims. They then descended 
to the lower gate, where the mob in the vestibule appeared to be hio-hlv 
excited. The jailer hesitated in permitting them to pass throu-h°the 
gate into the presence and within the power of the mob ; but he was 
chrectec, in a voice of kindness, to let them pass through. The mass of « 

beings before them was dense and highly enraged, uttering profane im- 
precations agamst the writer and all abolitionists. The jailer opened 
the gate, and they passed through among the crowd, which pressed back 
and opened a narrow defile through which the writer and his two friends 
passed to the door, and soon found themselves in the jail yard from 
whence they entered the street ; and the writer went directly to the Hall 
of Representatives, where he found his friends anxious in regard to his 
safety having learned that he had gone to visit the prisoners at the 
jail. To them he related the incidents that had occurred, and when the 
House was called to order, Mr. Palfrey, of Massachusetts, offered the J 
following preamble and resolution : 

1 Whereas common report represents that a lawless mob has as- 



276 DIFFERENT DOCTRINES AVOWED. 

sembled within the District of Columbia, on each of the two nights 
last past, and has committed acts of violence, and set at defiance 
the constituted authorities of the United States, menacing individuals of 
this body, and other persons residing in the city, therefore, 

" Resolved, That a Select Committee of five members be appointed to 
inquire into the facts referred to, and to report their opinion whether 
further legislation is necessary or expedient in the premises ; and further, 
that they have leave to sit during the sessions of the House." 

The resolution involving a question of privilege, took precedence of 
all other business, and an excited debate arose upon it. South- 
ern members appeared to be sincere in the opinion that the fugitive 
slaves had committed a grievous wrong in leaving the service of their 
masters, and that those who aided them in their attempt to escape had 
been guilty of crime. They did not stop to reason ; but assuming that 
the captain and mate of the vessel had placed themselves beyond human 
sympathy, they spoke of the writer's visit to them as itself a violation 
of law, and an act which rendered him an outlaw, and with an air of 
arrogance he was asked publicly before the House whether he had not 
visited the prisoners ? He replied that he had visited them, not merely 
because he possessed the moral and legal right to do so ; but he had 
done it from a sense of imperative duty, from the performance of 
which he had not been and never should be deterred except by positive 
force. 

They appeared surprised at these views, and one of them, Mr. 
Haskell, of Tennessee, at once inquired whether the writer, believed it 
morally right for a slave to leave the service of his master ? 

Astonished at the question, he replied that he believed with Jefferson 
and the Republican fathers " that all men held from the Creator equal 
rig/Us to live and to enjoy liberty : That whenever an individual stepped 
between God and his fellow-men to deprive them of this right, he does it 
at his peril: That it was not only the right of the oppressed to obtain 
then* liberty at the earliest moment they could do so, even by slaying 
their oppressor, but it was their unquestioned duty to do so, even to the 
taking of the life of every man who opposed them." Mr. Haskell replied 
that the writer " ought to be hanged as high as Haman, but that his 
effrontery was so much beyond his own conception he would interrogate 
him no further." The debate occupied the entire day. 

While this subject was agitating the House, Mr. Hale, in the Senate, 
asked leave to introduce a bill to prevent riots and unlawful assemblages 
in the city of Washington, on which a very exciting debate arose in 
that body, and at the close of the day it was difficult to say whether the 



EXCITING DEBATE ARISES. 277 

excitement was most intensified in the Senate, in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, or in the city. 

Mr. Calhoun was the first to denounce Mr. Hale's motion, and with 
great solemnity spoke of the slave question as the one most likely to 
dissolve the Union. He referred to all men who offered resistance to 
the slaveholding policy as demagogues, and dangerous to the Govern- 
ment. He appeared to entertain no doubt that it was the constitutional 
and moral duty of those who wielded the Government to support and 
extend slavery. 

Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, pronounced the bill of Mr. Hale to prevent 
mobs, to be a " bill to protect incendiaries and kidnappers." Mr. Foote, 
of Mississippi, charged Mr. Hale with complicity in the escape of slaves, 
and declared if he would come to his State, " he should be hanged by a 
mob to the first convenient tree ;" but Mr. Hale bore himself with coolness 
and decided ability, meeting his assailants at every point with facts, 
arguments, and logic, that could not be resisted by human reason. 

On the following morning " The Union," a newspaper published in 
the city of Washington, being the Administration organ, contained an 
article asserting that the excitement in the city had been greatly increas- 
ed by the efforts of Mr. Giddings and others to lend aid and comfort 
and counsel to the white prisoners Drayton and Sayers : That the aboli- 
tion incendiaries, Hale and Giddings, had thrown firebrands into the two 
Houses of Congress, which had produced an excited debate in each of 
those bodies. It stated that Mr. Giddings justified the kidnappers, de- 
claring that although the act was legally forbidden, it was morally right. 
Mr. Hale, in the Senate, expressed himself willing to relax the laws 
and weaken the protection given to slave property in the District. In- 
deed, the whole article was calculated to direct the violence of the mob 
towards Messrs. Hale and Giddings. 

At the reassembling of the Senate on the following day, that body 
passed to the ordinary business of legislation, and bestowed no further at- 
tention to the question which occupied the previous day. But the House 
resumed the debate on Mr. Palfrey's resolution with increased energy. 
The discussion, however, was no longer confined to one side. Mr. Root, 
of Ohio, a man of unusual powers in debate, always bold and gentle- 
manly, exposed with perfect fearlessness the despotism which southern 
members were endeavoring to establish. 

"While this debate was progressing, one Hope H. Slatter, of Balti- 
more, a slavedealer, having purchased some fifty of the slaves who had 
attempted to escape, marched his victims from the jail to Pennsylvania 
Avenue, and along that court street of the city to the railroad depot, 



! 



278 SACERDOTAL HEATHENISM. 

which then stood on the avenue near the Tyber. The scene was des- 
cribed by those who saw it as truly heartrending. In the mournful 
procession were fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and 
daughters, bidding a final adieu to their parents and friends, to all they 
held dear on earth, conscious that they were on their way to southern 
markets ; " that bourne from whence no slave returns ." It was said that 
all hearts were pained and all eyes suffused with tears, save those of 
the slavedealer and of the chaplin to the House, Rev. Henry Sheer, 
whose countenance appeared bland and smiling as he entered the car, 
and walking between the agonized victims, greeted Slatter, shaking him 
cordially by the hand, and then turned aside to reprove one of the men 
sitting near, a member of the same denomination to which Sheer be- 
longed, for having attempted to regain his liberty. Indeed it was 
asserted that Sheer had administered the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper to this man a few days previously : And now amid the sighs 
and groans, agony and despair, the clanking of chains, the prayers of 
victims, and the profanity of assistant slavedealers, Sheer was adminis- 
tering Christian reproof to a member of his own church for attempting 
to regain the rights which God had given him. 

On the following day, as the House was called to order and the 
chaplain ascended the desk and spread his hands in the attitude 
of prayer to invoke the blessing of God, members appeared disgusted 
at the sacrilegious hypocrisy, and one of them, putting on his hat, 
began to swear as Sheer began to pray ; and while the latter invoked 
the blessing of God upon members, one of them called on the same 
Almighty Being to damn such preachers, and most of those present 
appeared to feel that the prayer of one and the curses of the other 
were about equally efficacious. If the reader should regret that these 
details are placed on record, the writer begs leave to say this work is 
not designed to keep facts out of view, but to transmit as nearly as 
possible to posterity the incidents of that day shnply as they transpired. 

It had now become evident that southern members were satisfied that 
bluster and arrogance, and threats of dissolving the Union were operating 
against them, and that the sooner the debate was closed the better for 
the interests of slavery. The writer saw that if he spoke on the subject 
he must do so on that morning. Although the object of constant as- 
sault, he had forborne to speak, desirous of hearing his opponents fully 
before he attempted to answer them. The debate had lasted three days, 
and in the opinion of the writer was the most profitable to the nation 
that had ever occurred in Congress ; and whether his own speech was 
just or unjust to his opponents or to himself, he thinks he never addressed 



THE 8T0EY OF THE EDMUNDSONS. 279 

the House under circumstances more favorable. The principal charac- 
teristic of the speech was its independence of thought and expression. 
The resolution was laid on the table : And it is believed that this at- 
tempt was the last put forth by the slave power in Congress to silence 
the voice of northern philanthropy by arrogant bluster and supercilious 
attempts at intimidation. 

While the writer was speaking, a note from a friend was placed before 
him, saying that the " Edmundson sisters" and brother were among the 
victims purchased by the slavedcaler Slatter. The brother had called on 
the writer a few days before to obtain from him letters of commendation 
to northern philanthropists, for the purpose of soliciting contributions to 
redeem his two sisters. His complexion was light, his features were 
Caucasian, his phrenological development bespoke a high order of talent, 
his language was good and his deportment and bearing gentlemanly. 
He said he had seven hundred dollars in money and could leave slavery 
on any day as he commanded his own time, paying his master for it ; 
" But," said he, " I never will forsake those sisters." Nor did he. He 
was in the procession, walking by their side, at the time referred to ; 
and while surrounded with indescribable suffering he appeared absorbed 
in thought, anxious only to soothe and comfort the sisters to whom he 
was devotedly attached. That manly form now toils beneath the lash, 
or Bleeps in a servile grave. The sisters were redeemed by northern 
philanthropists at an extravagant price. The family w r as said to have 
been one of the most talented in the State of Maryland, and the writer 
fully concurs in that opinion.* 

On the 3d April Mr. Cummins, of Ohio, a Democrat, offered to the 
consideration of the House a series of resolutions congratulating the 
French people upon the success of their then recent revolution and 
tendering them the sympathy of our Government. The House sus- 
pended its rules for the purpose of considering these resolutions, to 
which many of the whig members were opposed. 

Mr. Ashman, of Massachusetts, proposed an amendment declaring 
our full and hearty sympathy in the pledge of the French nation for the 
immediate emancipation of slavery in the French colonies. To this 
amendment Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, proposed to add the following words, 
" recognizing as we do the cardinal republican principle that there shall 

* A few days subsequently to the scene described in the text, the writer, on opening a letter from 
New York, took from it a draft for nine hundred dollars. The letter was signed " A Grandsan 
of John Jacob Astor," who had been one of the wealthiest men in New York. In his letter he 
desired the money to be used for the redemption of the Edmundson sisters. The whole amount 
necessary to redeem them was made up, and the sisters were redeemed and subsequently educated 
at Oberlin College, Ohio. 



280 PEIMAL TRUTHS AGAIN DEBATED. 

be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except for crime." Thus was 
the House again at once precipitated upon the discussion of the subject 
of human bondage. 

Similar resolutions had been offered in the Senate, to which Mr. Hale 
offered a similar amendment, and that body and the House of Repre- 
sentatives were thus simultaneously engaged in discussing the primal 
truths on which governments are instituted. After several days of 
earnest debate in both Houses, the resolutions were adopted : But Mr. 
Palfrey moved a reconsideration of the vote, and on that motion delivered 
one of the ablest speeches of the session. 

In the course of this debate the fugitive slave act of 1850 was very 
thoroughly examined, and members appeared satisfied that no man nor 
officer of the free States was under any constitutional obligation to aid 
in the arrest or return of fugitive slaves : And that if such fugitive 
were to slay his master and all others who opposed his escape, there 
was no law to punish him. 

In following these consecutive events we have failed to mention in 
chronological order the death of the venerable Ex-President Adams, 
who had so long stood forth as the leader of freedom's hosts. His 
lamp of life had long seemed faintly to flicker in the socket. He often 
expressed to the writer and others his consciousness, to use his own 
words, of standing " upon the verge of eternity," and in continuing his 
diary he termed his own writings, after the paralytic shock referred to 
heretofore, as "posthumous," saying he was morally and politically and 
almost physically dead : Yet he continued cheerful and exhibited as great 
a degree of interest in the cause of human rights as he had ever done. 
1848.] 0n tlle morning of the 21st February he was in his seat at the 

usual hour of commencing business. The writer, as was his cus- 
tom, inquired concerning his health. He shook hands with his accus- 
tomed cordiality, while his ordinary smile seemed faintly to light up his 
countenance. 

When the House proceeded to business he resumed his pen. He 
had commenced an apostrophe to the Genius of History, which was 
represented by the recording angel sitting on the clock of time at 
the front entrance of the hall, when he was suddenly seized with an 
apoplectic fit, was carried to the rotunda in apparently an unconscious 
state and laid upon a sofa. While there he gave utterance to those last 
words so often quoted : " This is the last of earth, but I am prepared."* 

* The writer here gives the words as he then understood them, but the committee appointed to 
arrange the funeral ceremonies reported his last words to be, " this is the last of earth, but I am 
content." The word content the writer believes was seldom usee! by Mr. Adams. 



LEGISLATION IN SUPPORT OF SLAVERY. 281 

He was soon after removed to the Speaker's room, where he lay ap- 
parently unconscious on that and the following day, and at a quarter 
past seven o'clock on the 23d he departed to his final" rest. 

Another subject connected with slavery attracted attention near the 
close of this session of Congress. In the long pending controversy be- 
tween our Government and Great Britain concerning deported slaves 
under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, a list of the slaves 
claimed to have been lost was made out and presented to the British 
Ministry, 

This list was subsequently found to be fraudulent, containing the names 
of a largo number of imaginary slaves who never had existence : But it 
had been made the basis of negotiations, and our Government was not 
only used as the instrument for supporting slavery, but it was disgraced 
by a petty fraud unworthy of honest or honorable men. 

After the money was obtained from England, the claimants being held 
to strict proof as to the loss of slaves, and all such being paid for,°there 
w re several thousand dollars remaining in the treasury. The 'money 
properly belonged to the British Government, but no movement to refund 
it was mad.'. 

A Mr. Bodges, of Maryland, now petitioned Congress for indemnity 
for a slave who left the country on board a British ship in 1814. The 
petitioner had not filed his claim under the treaty, nor did it come within 
treaty stipulations; but finding this money, which had been obtained 
under pr stence that the British navy had carried away a greater number 
of slaves than had actually left their masters, he called on Congress to 
pay him for the loss of his human chattel from the money to which 
neither he nor the Government had any moral right. 

The petition was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, who 
had been appointed by a whig Speaker (Mr. Winthrop). Six members 
of that committee were from the free States, to wit : Mr. Smith of 
Connecticut ; C. I. Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania ; Marsh, of Vermont • 
Dner, of New York ; McClellan, of Michigan, and Duncan, of Massa- 
chusetts. While Messrs. Rhett, of South Carolina ; Hilliard, of Ala- 
bama, and Pendleton, of Virginia, represented the slave States.' 

This committee, apparently without a dissenting voice, reported a bill 
to pay for this slave, and when it came before the House it was admitted 
by all that the slave was not embraced in the treaty nor in the subse- 
quent negotiation. 

2d. That the treaty-making power could impose no obligation upon 
Congress to interfere in Mipport or in the abolition of slavery. 

3d. It was urged that slaves were not property, and that no human 



282 FURTHER LEGISLATION FOR SLAVERY. 

legislation could confer any moral right on one man to hold another as 
property. 

4th. That it was disgraceful to our Government for Congress to legis- 
late upon the price of God's image. 

But although the whig party was then in power in the House of Re- 
presentatives, this bill was sanctioned by the committee of the whole 
body, and when it came iuto the House, the friends of liberty could not 
induce one-fifth of the members to vote for the Yeas and Nays, and the 
bill received its third reading and final passage without leaving any re- 
cord showing who voted for, or who against it : Northern members dared 
not record their votes for the bill, and were afraid to vote against it. 

On the 14th August Congress adjourned, having spent more time in 
the discussion of slavery and questions connected with that institution, 
than had been appropriated to that subject at any former session. 



CONTENTION ASSEMBLES AT BUFFALO. 283 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE SLAVE TRADE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUSTAINED — PROPERTY IN 
HUMAN FLESH DECREED — THE MOMENTOUS ISSUE ON EXTENDING SLAVERY 
INTO THE TERRITORIES DECIDED. 

i 

During the recess of Congress the Presidential election took riS4g 
place. The friends of Mr. Van Buren had been mortified and 
dissatisfied with his defeat in 1840. He had served but one term, while 
every southern President had been reelected. His friends determined 
to nominate him again. But he had, while serving- as President, ad- 
mitted the constitutional power of Congress to abolish slavery in the 
IMstrictof Columbia, and had refused to hold diplomatic correspondence 
with the authorities of Texas concerning the annexation of that coun- 
try, believing rach an act would be unconstitutional. Southern states- 
men allowed no faltering among their professed friends, and Mr. Van 
Buren was defeated by southern iufluence in the nominating convention, 
at which his friends were greatly offended. They nominated General 
Cass, however, who was a northern man. 

The Whigs nominated General Taylor, trusting to his military charac- 
ter to secure his election : But he was a large slaveholder and unaccept- 
able to the advocates of liberty. Indeed, they would not support either ; 
feeling that the time had fully come when a distinctive organization 
should be formed upon such principles as would lead to the separation 
of the Government and the free States from the support of slavery. A 
large convention assembled at Buffalo, and adopting a platform of doc- 
trines, they nominated Mr. Van Buren as their candidate, who unhesi- 
tatingly pledged himself to the principles enunciated. His democratic 
friends supported him, and by that means General Cass was defeated, 
and General Taylor was elected President. 

The democratic party now stood humbled before the country in conse- 
quence of its devotion to slavery ; while the "Whigs held the executive 
branch of government solely because of the divisions in the democratic 
ranks. There was yet uo distinct issue between these two organizations : 
Neither professed to draw any distinction between slavery and freedom, 
between the barbarism of oppression and Christian civilization, between 
right and wrong. The whig party came into power, but reflecting states- 



284 mb. palfeey's bill. 

men foresaw that its disbandment was near at hand, as they had united 
upon no distinctive principle on which they could rally, after the offices 
should be distributed and executive favors granted. 

The advocates of liberty were known as " Free-soilers," from the fact 
that they advocated freedom of the soil wherever Congress held exclu- 
sive jurisdiction. They had broken the prestige of the democratic party, 
and now looked to the breaking up of the whig organization with great 
confidence. 

Under these circumstances Congress assembled ; and early in December 
Mr. Palfrey asked leave to introduce a bill to repeal all acts, and such 
parts of any and of all acts of Congress which authorize the existence 
or support of slavery or the slave trade in the District of Columbia. 
The intention of this motion was to place before the country the fact 
that both political parties, whig and democratic, were wielding the power 
of the Government for the maintenance of slavery and the slave trade, 
while they constantly denied that the Government or free States were in 
any way interested or concerned in that institution. On Mr. Pal- 
frey's motion, all the members from the slave States voted against leave 
to introduce the bill, together with the following members from the free 
States : 

New York. . Mr. Sherril 1 

Pennsylvania. Messrs. Brady, Brown, C. I. Ingersoll, Irwin, Le- 
vin, Mann, and Strong 1 

Ohio. . . . Messrs. Kennon and Miller 2 

Indiana. . . " Robbinson and Thompson 2 

Illinois. . . " Ficklin, Lincoln, McClernard, Richardson, 

and Smith • . . . 5 

Iowa. . . . Mr. Leffier 1 

Wisconsin. . " Lynde 1 

Maine. . . . Messrs. Clark and Wiley 2 

Thus it will be seen that only twenty-one members from the free 
States, all but one of whom were Democrats, were willing to place their 
names on record distinctly in favor of maintaining slavery and the slave 
trade in the District of Columbia, while the following members put their 
names on record in favor of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade 
in said District, to wit : 

Maine. . . . Messrs. Belcher and Smart • . . 2 

New Hampshire. " Peaslee, Johnson, and Willson ... 3 
Massachusetts. . " Abbott, Grinnell, Hale, King, Palfrey, 

and Rockwell 6 



THE YOTE THEREON. 



285 



Vermont. 
Connecticut. 
Rhode Island. 
New York. . 



New Jersey. 
Pennsylvania. 



Ohio. 



Indiana. . 
Illinois. . 

Michigan. 

Iowa. 

Wisconsin. 



Messrs. Collamer, Henry, and Marsh . . . 3 

" Dixon, Hubbard, Rockwell, and Smith . 4 

" Cranston and Thurston 2 

" Blackmer, Conger, Gott, Greeley, Hall, 
Holmes, Kellogg, W. T. Lawrence, Sid- 
ney, Lawrence, Lord, McMellan, Mar- 
vin, Mullen, Nelson, Pctrie, Putnam, 
Reynolds, Rumsey, St. John, Silvester, 
Slingerland, Starkweather, Tallmadge, 

Warren, and White 26 

" Dickinson and Gregory 2 

" Blanchard, Eckhart, Fricdly, Strohm, 

Thompson, and Willmot 6 

" Canby, Farran, Giddings, Lahm, Morris, 
Root, Sawyer, Taylor, and Vinton . 

" Dunn and Embree 

Mr. Weutworth 

" Stuart 

" Thompson 



Darling 



Some members doubtless voted differently, from the dictates of their 
own judgments, believing their people differed from them ; but this vote 
was probably a fair representation of the popular voice. It was the 
opinion of candid statesmen, that sixty-nine out of every ninety-one 
inhabitants of the free States would then have abolished slavery and the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia, in our Territories, and upon the 
high seas, had they possessed the power. But every member from the 
slave States was in favor of prostituting the power of the Federal Gov- 
ernment to uphold the institution and its attendant commerce in human 
flesh. 

On the 18th December, the writer asked leave to introduce a bill au- 
thorizing the people of the District to express by ballot their desire as 
to the abolition of slavery. Leave was granted ; the bill passed its first 
and second reading, but on the question of engrossment, Mr. Tompkins, 
of Tennessee, discovered that it gave the negro an opportunity for 
saying whether he desired to be held in bondage. Southern slavehold- 
er.- became excited, and northern conservatives were alarmed, and the 
bill .vas laid on the table by a large majority. 

The object of these movements was, to inform the people of the free 
States that they were involved in the crimes and disgrace of maintain- 



286 



. ME. GOTT S RESOLUTION. 



ing slavery and the slave trade. For that purpose, Mr. Gott, of New 
York, introduced the following preamble and resolution : 

" Whereas the traffic now prosecuted in the metropolis of this repub- 
lic, in human beings as chattels, is contrary to justice and the fundamen- 
tal principles of our political system, and is notoriously a reproach to 
our country throughout Christendom, and a serious hindrance to the 
progress of republican liberty among the nations of the earth ; therefore, 
" " Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to re- 
port a bill soon as practicable, prohibiting the slave trade in said Dis- 
trict." The mover demanded the previous question.* 

Mr. Harrolson, of Georgia, moved to lay the resolution on the table ; 
but Mr. Yenable, of North Carolina, also a slaveholder, declared that he 
wished to see northern Whigs and northern Democrats constrained to 
show their hands, to let the country sec hoxo they voted. He hoped that 
southern men would vote against laying on the table. This proposition 
was most heartily responded to by every " Free-soiler.*' The motion to 
lay the resolution on the table was negatived, and the demand for the 
previous question was sustained. This brought the House to a direct 
vote, constraining every member to put his name on record in favor of 
the domestic slave trade or against it. 

Consternation rested upon the countenances of northern conservatives, 
as they called themselves ; but in common parlance, they were more 
generally known as " dough-faces." 

The advocates of freedom had long desired to bring before the public 
the name of every man who was willing to court southern favor by con- 
tinuing to involve the people of the free States in crimes which were 
pronounced "piracy" when committed on the African coast ; and now 
they were about to attain that object. 

The members from the slave States, without exception, voted against 
the adoption of the resolution ; while those of the free States voted as 
follows : 

Maine. Yea — Mr. Belcher, 1 

Nay— Messrs. Clark, Hammons, Smart, Wiley, and Wil- 
liams, 5 

New Hampshire. Yea— Messrs. Johnson, Peaslee, Tuck, and 

Williams, ........ 4 

Nay — none. 

* Fifteen years after this effort of one of the distinguished sons of New York to lustrate the peo- 
ple from the disgrace and guilt of sustaining this " execrable commerce in human flesh," Governor 
Seymour, of that State, characterized these acts as interfering with the rights of the South. ( Vide 
his first Message.) 



THE VOTE. 287 

Massachusetts. Yea— Messrs. Abbott, Ashman, Grinnell, Hall, 

Hudson, Palfrey, King, and Rockwell, ...[.[ 8 

Nay — none. 
Rhode Island. Yea— Messrs. Cranston and Thurston 9 

^Nay — none. 

Connecticut. Yea-Messrs. Dixon, Hubbard, and Rockwell, . 3 

Nay — none. 
Vermont. Yea— Messrs. Collamer, Marsh, and Peck, . . 3 

New York. Yea— Messrs. Blackmer, Conger, Gott, Greeley," 
Hall, Holmes, Hunt, Kellogg, Lord, Lawrence, Law- 
rence, Mc'Clelland, Marvin, Mullen, Nicol, Putnam, 
Rose, Rumsey, St. John, Sherril, Silvester, Shngerland', 
^ Starkweather, Warren, White, and Reynolds, . . .'26 
Nay — none. 

New Jersey. Yea— Messrs. Gregory, Hampton, Newal, and 

\ andyke, 

Nay — none. 
Pennsylvania. Yea— Messrs. Blanchard, Butler, Dickey, Far- 
relly, Priedly, Hampton, J. R. Ingersoll, Irwin, Mcll- 
vain, Mann, Pollock, Strohm, ...... 12 

Nay— Messrs. Bridges, Brown, and C. I. IngersoU, '. ' ' 3 
Ohio. Yea— Messrs. Canby, Crowell, Cummins, Dickinson, Ed- 
wards, Evans, Farran, Fisher, Fries, Giddings, Lahm, 
Morris, Richey, Root, and Vinton, . ... 15 

Nay— Messrs. Kennon, Miller, and Sawyer, . 3 

Indiana. Yea— Messrs. Cathcart, Enibree, Henley, Petit, Rob- 

biuson, and Rockhill, „ 

Nay — Mr. Dunn, ' 

Illinois. Yea— Messrs. Smith, Turner, and Wentw'orth, '. 3 

Nay— Messrs. Ficklin, Lincoln, and McClernand, . . 3 
Michigan. Yea— Messrs. Stuart,-and Bingham, . 2 

Nay — none. 

Wisconsin. Aye— Messrs. Darling and Lynde, ... 2 

Nay — none. 
Iowa. Aye— Messrs. Leffler and Thompson, ... 2 

On this vote the free States cast ninety-fou'r votes for 'the' abolition of 
the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and but fifteen in favor of 
continuing to involve themselves and constituents in the support of that 
barbarous traffic. The members from the slave States, sixty-seven in 
number, voted unanimously in favor of continuing this relic of a more 
barbarous age. 



288 CASE OF LOUIS PACIIECO. 

New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Ver- 
mont, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, voted 
unanimously for its abolition. Maine gave five votes, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio and Illinois each gave three votes, and Indiana one vote, to con- 
tinue the sale of men and women in the District of Columbia. The 
final vote stood 94 in the affirmative, and 88 in the negative— nearly fifty 
members not voting. Indeed, the attention of the House was particu- 
larly called to Messrs. Truman Smith, of Connecticut, and Caleb B. 
Smith, of Indiana, who were in their seats, but apparently unwilling to 
vote either for against the resolution. 

Wire-working politicians appeared to be alarmed at this vote. Mr. 
Stuart, of Michigan, moved a reconsideration ; and after many incidental 
motions and delays, the vote was reconsidered, by 119 to 81. Messrs. 
Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, and Truman Smith, of Connecticut, who 
were in their seats, but did not vote on adopting the resolution, now 
voted for its reconsideration. Some twenty other members who failed 
to vote, on adopting the resolution, now voted for reconsidering it. 
While Messrs. Grinnell, of Massachusetts ; Lord, Nicol, and Tallmudge, 
of New York ; YanDyke, of New Jersey; Butler, Pollock, and Thomp- 
son, of Pennsylvania ; Canby, Taylor, and Yinton, of Ohio, changed 
their votes ; having voted for the resolution, they now voted to recon- 
sider. 

The resolution being reconsidered, passed into the orders of the day, 
and was no more heard from. 

But the slave power, no way daunted by these manifestations, 
appeared determined to constrain members to admit that " slaves 
were properly ;" although that idea had been repudiated by the conven- 
tion that framed the Constitution and rejected as often as it had been 
presented to the consideration of Congress, slaveholders constantly as- 
serted and reasserted the revolting dogma that men created in the image 
of God, with intellects clustering with immortal hopes, were property ; 
and northern conservatives had caught up the disgusting phrase, and 
constantly repeated " slaves are property ;" while the advocates of human 
riehts denounced the doctrine as barbarous and infidel in character. 

The case was one of unusual interest. In December, 1835, Major 
Dade, while lying at " Fort Brooke," near Tampa Bay in Florida, 
with his battalion of regular troops, was ordered to Fort King, one hun- 
dred and thirty miles in a north-easterly direction through an unbroken 
forest. Neither Dade nor any of his officers was acquainted with the 
road, and he sought a guide to conduct them on their way. He was 
told that a slave named " Louis," belonging to a man named Pacheco, 



dade's massacre. 2S9 

was well acquainted with the proposed route. Ou examining Louis, he 
found him remarkably intelligent, speaking four languages with facility, 
well bred and apparently the very man he wanted. By contract with 
the master he was employed at twenty-eight dollars per month. 

Louis, conscious that the Maroons, who had for nearly a century suf- 
fered persecution at the hands of the white people, were desirous of 
opening the second Florida war by some important blow that should 
give them influence with the Indians, gave them notice of the time that 
Dade was to start from Fort Brooke and the route he was to travel. 
The Maroons made the necessary arrangements, and inviting a certain 
number of Indians to attend them, encamped on an island in the Wahoo 
Swamp, three miles from where Dade and his troops bivouacked on the 
night of the fourth day from Fort Brooke ; and on the fatal 28th 
December, a.d. 1835, massacred the battalion, only two of the whole 
number escaping. Louis was with the troops a few minutes before they 
were fired upon, but after the massacre was consummated he united his 
fortunes with an Indian chief called " Wildcat," and with him was in 
almost every battle of the Florida war, until the convention between 
General Jessup and the Indians in 1837, by which that officer agreed to 
protect the Seminoles, who should surrender for emigration, and their 
property. 

Soon after that arrangement was made, Wildcat appeared in General 
Jessup's camp with Louis, whom he claimed to hold as his own property, 
declaring that he captured him at Dade's massacre. 

The general recognizing the doctrine that "slaves are property," con- 
sidered the honor of his Government pledged, and he sent Louis with 
other negroes and Indians west of Arkansas, to settle in the Indian 
country. 

Pacheco, finding that his slave had been sent to the Indian 
country, presented his petition to Congress, asking that body to 
pay him for the loss of his slave who had caused the massacre of an entire 
battalion of troops, besides the other injuries he had done in two years' 
service with the enemies of the country. 

The Committee on Military Affairs was composed of five southern 
and four northern members, and the petition of Pacheco was referred to 
that committee. The southern majority reported a bill, but the northern 
minority made a strong report against the claim. This was not usual in 
that day : but Mr. Dickey, of Pennsylvania, presented a minority report, 
which was signed by himself, by Hon. Dudly Marvin, of New York, 
Hon. James Willson, of New Hampshire, and by Hon. David Fisher, of 
Ohio. 

19 



290 BOLD ATTEMPT AT FEAUD. 

Mr. Dickey led in the debate, urging that slaves were not property. 
Mr. Burt, of South Carolina,' called him to order for discussing slavery : 
but southern members were not long in discovering that when they called 
on Congress to pay for slaves who had done the country as much injury 
as Louis had, northern members were inclined to examine the real merits 
of the claim. Mr Burt was bold and manly, declaring the only question 
that could arise in the case was that proposed by Mr. Dickey, that slaves 
were or were not property. Mr. Collarner, of Vermont, inquired whether 
other questions were not involved. Mr. Burt replied that he would 
leave no other loophole for gentlemen to escape. After debate the vote 
was taken in committee and stood, for the bill seventy, against it forty- 
four. When it had been reported to the House, Mr. Crowell, of Ohio, 
moved to lay it on the table ; but his motion failed, by a vote of eighty- 
five against sixty-six. The bill was then passed to its engrossment, 
when Mr. Giddings moved a reconsideration, and on that motion the bill 
was again debated, and the vote on its passage was taken by yeas and 
nays amidst the most intense interest. 

The question was vital to the character of slavery. The bill had been 
reported by a leading slaveholder, had been argued with all the apparent 
confidence which usually characterized southern members whenever the 
institution was involved : it had also been boldly and ably opposed. 
The doctrine of property in human souls and bodies was denounced as 
heathenish, barbarous and infidel ; and those who engaged in the debate 
were anxious and excited. 

As the deputy Clerk, a slaveholder, proceeded to call the names of 
•members, it appeared that the vote was to be nearly equal. Some mem- 
bers kept count for their own satisfaction. When the roll had been 
called through, the Clerk appeared perplexed ; but after some delay, 
handed his report to the Speaker, who announced the vote, ayes ninety, 
noes eighty-nine, and as the Speaker then stated that it became his duty 
to vote whenever his voice would change the result, proceeded to give his 
reasons why he should vote against the bill. While doing this, the Clerk 
handed him another report, when the Speaker, after looking at it, said 
the vote was reported ninety-one in the affirmative, eighty-nine in the 
negative, and he declared the bill carried. 

The countenance of the Clerk and his manner was such that members 
were satisfied of the fraud which he had thus attempted in the face of 
the House : and Mr. Dickey immediately called attention to what he 
publicly characterized as the error of the Clerk, and showed from the 
record of names and votes that eighty-nine votes had been recorded 
against the bill, and precisely the same number in favor of it, while Mr. 



GUILT OF THE CLERK EXrOSED. 291 

Farrelly, of Pennsylvania, declared that he had voted against the bill, 
but the Clerk had not entered his vote. Thus there had been actually 
ninety votes given against the passage of the bill while only eighty- nine 
had been given for it. On this exposure of fraud, the Speaker corrected 
the journal and announced the bill as lost. 

The supporters of slavery were mortified and depressed by this unex- 
pected result, which showed that southern influence and party dictation 
could no longer subject the conscience of northern men to the bar- 
barous dogma that men are property. The friends of humanity were 
greatly cheered by this result. Of the twenty-two members from Ohio 
only Mr. Ritchey, of Perry County, Mr. Cummins, of Tuscarawas, and 
Mr. Taylor, of Ross, voted in favor of the bill, while such Democrats as 
Farran, Fii. s, Lahm, Miller, Morris, Sawyer, and Starkweather, voted 
against it. No member from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, Michigan, Wisconsin or 
Iowa, voted with the slaveholders. But from Maine, Messrs. Clapp, 
Clark, and Williams; from New York, Messrs. Birdsall, Maclay, Murphy, 
NicolL and Tallmadge ; from Pennsylvania., Messrs. Brady, Bridges, 
Brodhead, Charles, Brown, C. I. Ingersoll, Levin, and Moore ; from 
Indiana, Messrs. Dunn, R. W. Thompson, and Wick ; and from Illinois, 
Messrs. M'Clernand and Richardson, voted to pay Pacheco one thou- 
sand dollars in consequence of General Jessnp's having sent a most 
dangerous enemy out of Florida. 

To case off the blow thus directed at the heart of the peculiar insti- 
tution, a motion was made to reconsider the vote, and after searching 
the city, one hundred and five members were persuaded to vote for the 
bill, while only ninety-five opposed it ; but although it actually passed the 
House, the feeling against it was so strong that its friends never brought 
it before the Senate for action, and the claim was never renewed.* 

In this debate an important principle was fully admitted by the ad- 
vocates of slavery. No one denied that a commanding general or 
executive officer in time of war may capture, emancipate, or send 
out of the country any or all slaves that he may deem necessary for the 
public safety. They admitted the power of C jneral Jessup to capture 
and send Louis out of the country, and sustained the doctrine of Gen- 
eral Jackson, practised at#few Orleans in 1814. 

In January, Mr. Dix, of New York, presented to the Senate [1849 
resolutions of the Legislature of that State, declaring that for the 
United States to permit slavery to exist in New Mexico was revolting 
to the spirit of the age, and instructing their Senators to oppose its 

* Vide, "Exilee of Florida," p. 106. 



292 ISSUE BETWEEN NEW TOKK AND SOUTH CAROLINA. 

existence therein. The resolutions also instructed the Senators of that 
State to use their best efforts to prevent the jurisdiction of Texas from 
extending beyond the Nueces, and to preserve the territory between the 
Nueces and Rio Grande to freedom. 

These resolutions were regarded as offensive to southern Senators, 
some of whom objected to them as unworthy of that ordinary respect • 
which was usually extended to the resolves of sovereign States ; and an 
angry debate arose, in which New York and other free States were 
treated with disrespect and referred to with arrogant contempt ; but 
the resolutions were finally ordered to be printed. 

A few days subsequently, Mr. Wallace, of South Carolina, presented 
to the House of Representatives resolutions adopted by the Legislature 
of that State, declaring that the time for discussing the exclusion of 
South Carolina from her equal share in the Territories was passed, and 
that her " people were prepared to unite with their sister States in 
resisting the application of the ' Wilmot Proviso ' to such territory at any 
and at all hazards." 

It was understood that these resolutions were intended as an answer 
and a defiance to the doctrines asserted by the Legislature of New 
York, and these two States were the first to form a distinct issue upon 
the subject of freedom in our Territories. 

In presenting the resolutions of South Carolina, Mr. Wallace re- 
marked that his State had deliberately taken her position, which she 
would not abandon. 

This issue was regarded as most important at that time, as the vast 
territory acquired from Mexico was to be organized immediately with or 
without slavery. The people of New York had declared through their 
Legislature that it would be "revolting to the spirit of the age for Con- 
gress to permit slavery to be introduced into that territory which was then 
free;" and South Carolina declared that her people " would not debate that 
question, but would resist it." t Thus was the subject of slavery extension, 
or resistance and rebellion by South Carolina, presented to the consider- 
ation of Congress in 1849. It overshadowed all other subjects. 

During the early part of this session the Senate were engaged in 
devising means to avoid the very issue which was now pressed upon 
Congress. This issue had been foreseen and fepeatedly foretold by the 
friends of freedom, while the annexation of Texas was a pending ques- 
tion. It was often repeated during the Mexican war ; and they had 
constantly done all in their power to prevent it. But the Government 
had been precipitated step by step, first into the policy of obtaining 
Texas, next the Mexican war, next the acquisition of Mexican territory, 



THE GKEAT ISSUE MADE UP. 293 

until the mighty issue which was to decide the fate of slavery, and of 
the Government, seemed to stare them in the face. One and only one 
circumstance appeared to encourage the slave power : The influence of 
the slave States had prevailed on every question touching the extension 
of slavery which had arisen since 1793. It had subjected our own Gov- 
ernment to its control ; and England too had become tributary to its 
interest, while France had silently stood with folded arms, and looked 
upon the dismemberment of Mexico without objection, or the utterance of 
a protest. But the advocates of justice and truth stood undaunted, and 
were ready for the contest. 

The first day of the session on which resolutions were in order, Hon. 
Joseph M. Root, of Ohio, presented to the House the following : 

" Resolved, That the Committee on Territories be instructed to pre- 
sent to this House with as little delay as practicable, a bill or bills pro- 
viding territorial governments for each of the territories of New Mexico 
and California, and excluding slavery therefrom." 

The presentation of this resolution constrained members of all parties 
from the North and from the South to a consideration of the pending 
issue, the magnitude of which but few statesmen then appeared to 
comprehend. 

Mr. Hall, of Missouri, moved to lay the resolution on the table. This 
motion, if successful, would have consigned the resolution to perpetual 
silmce. The yeas and nays were ordered, and while the Clerk called 
the names and recorded the votes, members listened with great attention 
and solemnity, and the voice of some trembled with emotion as they 
responded to the call, and gave utterance to the vote which was to con- 
sign a vast territory to slavery, or preserve it to Christiau civilization. 
It were useless to repeat names. Every member from the slave States 
gave his voice in favor of laying the resolution on the table, and were 
aided by Messrs. Charles Brown and C. I. Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania ; 
Clapp, of Maine ; Kennon, Miller and Sawyer, of Ohio ; Ficklin, Mc- 
Clernand and Richardson, of Illinois ; and Van Dyke, of New Jersey. 
These ten members from the free States belonged to the democratic 
party, and swelled the affirmative vote, including southern members, 
to 80. 

All members from the free States, except those designated, voted 
against laying the resolution upon the table, and the motion was 
defeated by 107 to 80. 

The question now recurred upon seconding the demand for the previous 
question which had been called by Mr. Root. At this moment, Mr. 
Vinton, of Ohio, chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means — a 



294 SENATOR DOUGLAS ATTEMPTS EVASION. 

man of influence with the whig party— began to falter. He inquired 
wli ether the resolution was peremptory, or whether it directed the Com- 
mittee on Territories merely to inquire into the propriety of excluding 
slavery from those Territories ? The Speaker replied that it was 
peremptory, ordering the committee to report such bills as early as prac- 
ticable. Mr. Yinton then said he hoped the previous question would 
not be sustained. This indication of an unmanly disposition to surrender 
the question by a leading member from Ohio, was listened to with pain 
and disgust by the friends of liberty ; but every member who had voted 
against laying the resolution on the table, now voted to second the 
demand for the previous question, except Mr. Vinton, and the resolution 
was adopted by a vote of 106 ayes to 80 noes. 

A motion was next made by Mr. Robbinson, of Indiana, to reconsider 
this vote. The discussion on this motion came up for debate a few days 
afterwards, and it was laid on the table by 105 ayes to 83 nays. 

The subject of slavery now entered into the debates whenever 
the House went into committee on the state of the Union, where 
each speaker was allowed to select his own subject. 

While the House was devoting its time and energies to the discussion 
of slavery in all its various phases, Senators were not idle spectators of 
passing events. On the first day of the session, Mr. Douglas, of 
Illinois, gave notice of his intention to introduce bills to organize terri- 
torial governments in Minnesota, Nebraska and New Mexico, and a bill 
to admit California as a State. 

On the 11th he introduced a bill declaring California one of the States 
of the Union, without referring to the subject of slavery. The bill was 
referred to the Committee on Territories, of which Mr. Douglas was 
chairman, and reported back without amendment. It contained one of 
the grossest frauds ever perpetrated upon a free people. It provided 
that all laws of the United States not inapplicable should extend over 
and be in force in the contemplated State. Had the bill been adopted, 
this provision would have extended the domestic slave trade, authorized 
by the 8th, 9th and 10th sections of the law of 1807, over the new 
State, and the designs of the slave power in obtaining the territory 
would have been attained, inasmuch as the laws authorizing the trans- 
portation and sale of slaves in California would have been construed to 
authorize the holding of them in bondage while there. 

As the subject was debated in the House of Representatives, members 
became more bold and more earnest in favor of free soil and free men. 
This gave evident pain to southern Senators. Mr. Calhoun spoke des- 
pondingly. Other Senators from slave States resorted to intimidation ; 



HIS SECOND ATTEMPT AT FEAUD. 295 

but Ifessrs. Hale and Baldwin steadily and firmly vindicated the doc- 
trines of human freedom, giving conclusive evidence that they were not 
to be moved from the position which they had taken upon the attribute 
of liberty. 

In the House of Representatives, the friends of justice, aided by the 
great body of the whig party, steadily pressed the subject with deter* 
mined purpose. Southern members threatened a dissolution of the 
Union. Northern members retorted in bold defiauce. Some northern 
Whigs faltered, but in return were greeted with sneers of contempt for 
their moral cowardice. 

The Senate had always been and then was more subservient to the 
slave power than the House of Representatives, but that body appeared 
entirely incapable of agreeing upon any definite course of action. 

Mr. Douglas reported another bill, differing somewhat from the one 
which he at first introduced, but retaining the objectionable feature in 
regard to slavery. The fraud which lurked under that feature of the 
bill had been unveiled to the public by the frieuds of liberty, and this 
attempt to subserve the cause of human bondage now operated as a dead 
weight, retarding instead of accelerating the passage of the bill. Almost 
every slaveholder and northern supporter of the institution, now had a plan 
of his own by Which he appeared to think he could entice northern poli- 
ticians to lend their moral and political influence to extend and per- 
petuate the institution of human bondage. 

In the House various propositions to avoid all reference to slavery 
and admit California as a slave State were presented ; but their real 
character was invariably developed and exposed. Slaveholders and 
Democrats complained that the friends of liberty were constantly agit- 
ting the questions of freedom and slavery : to which the Free-soilers 
replied, " we opposed the annexation of Texas ; we opposed the Mexican 
war ; we opposed the conquest of territory in order to avoid these irri- 
tating subjects ; but slaveholders and the democratic party forced them 
upon us ; we have been driven to the walr; and now we are constrained 
to vindicate ourselves, by extending civilization wherever our flag shall 
float." 

On the 19th February, Hon. Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, moved to 
make the bills organizing territorial governments in California and New 
Mexico the special order of each and of every day until disposed of. 
The motion was sustained, and reluctant members now saw clearly that 
prompt and efficient action was determined on by a majority of the 
body. 

The House had passed the ordinary bill providing for the civil and 



296 walker's celebrated amendment. 

diplomatic expenses of Government, and had sent it to the Senate for 
concurrence. On the 20 th, Mr. Walker, a Democrat, of Wisconsin, 
offered to the consideration of the Senate his celebrated amendment, 
providing that all acts of Congress for registering, licensing or enrolling 
ships or vessels of the United States, should extend over the territory 
of California ; and giving the President authority to establish a terri- 
torial government therein. This proposition also in latent form extended 
the coastwise slave trade to California, although but few members dis- 
covered it upon a casual reading. 

• This mode of deception had long been practised by the slave power, 
and northern members had been slow to expose it, when discovered. 

On the 22d February, Mr. Webster, of Massachusetts, pro- 
posed an amendment, simply authorizing the President to hold 
possession of California and New Mexico, and to protect the inhabitants 
in the enjoyment of liberty and property. The amendment of Mr. 
Walker, however, was debated until the 26th February, when it was 
adopted in the Senate by a majority of two votes, members voting 
generally with their political parties. On the following day the House 
resumed the consideration of the bill to organize a territorial government 
in California, and after a severe contest, members were brought to a 
final vote upon its passage, and it was carried by a majority of 126 to 
81 ; every member from the slave States voting against the bill, aided 
by Messrs. Bridges, of Pennsylvania ; Kennon, Miller and Sawyer, of 
Ohio ; while every other member from the free States voted in favor of 
its passage. It was sent to the Senate for concurrence ; and on the 
following day that body took it up for consideration, and it was read a 
first and second time and referred to the Committee on Territories, and 
was no more heard from. 

The civil and diplomatic bill was returned to the House with several 
amendments, which the House immediately referred to its appropriate 
committee, who reported it back, with a recommendation to strike out 
the amendment of the Senate organizing a government in California 
which extended the coastwise slave trade to that territory, and to insert 
an amendment simply authorizing the President to hold the territory and 
protect the people in the enjoyment of liberty and property. 

The two Houses were now at a dead lock. The Senate was in favor 
of slavery in California, and the House opposed it. It was Friday, 2d 
March, and the Congress was to close on the 3d, by operation of the 
Constitution. The mass of unfinished business before each House forbade 
debate : yet the feelings of the advocates of liberty had become intense, 
while the supporters of slavery were still more excited. The magnitude 



EXECUTIVE INFLUENCE FOR SLAVERY. 297 

of the issue appeared more sublime as members approached the moment 
of decision. 

The report of the committee upon the amendment of the Senate to 
the civil and diplomatic bill was taken up for consideration in the House 
That body agreed to the report striking out the Senate's amendment 
but disagreed to so much as recommended the insertion of the amendment 
proposed by the committee : and the bill was returned to the Senate 
With the amendment inserted by that body simply stricken out This 
was the condition of the question at the hour of adjournment on the 2d 
- larch, while only one day of the thirtieth Congress remained for the 
disposition of the business before it. 

On the morning of the last day of the session, the cry was raised that 
the friends of free soil in the House of Representatives were intending 
to defeat every meaSa re for establishing a government in California. 
The incoming President, General Taylor, his Cabinet, and others were 
said to have become anxious on the subject.* One of his Cabinet offi- 
ces, Mr. Preston, of Virginia, was a member of the House, and sat in 
that body on the last day of the session. Other members left their quar- 
ters and appeared in the Hall of Representatives, endeavoring to per- 
suade members to accept some proposition for establishing a "-overn- 
meut m California. This, too, was done while the bill for that purpose 
had been matured and passed by that body, and was then on the 
table of the Senate, and could have been passed in five minutes had 
Senators been willing to exclude slavery from the territory Yet no 
member of General Taylor's Cabinet, nor friend of his Administration 
has to tins day explained why no efforts were made to persuade the 
Senate to pass the bill before it; nor why they should have been so 
anxious to have the House accept some plan of the Senate, while that 
body presented no other proposition than one which would have planted 
the curse of human bondage upon the soil of California. 

When the House assembled at 11 o'clock, the friends of freedom felt 
ess confident than on the previous day. Suspicions were entertained 
that leading V higs would surrender the question. Soon after the hour 
of meeting, the Senate took up the amendment of the House striking 
out that of the Senate, and disagreeing thereto, requested a conference 
The House consented ; bat the Committee of Conference could not a-ree" 
and so reported to the two bodies. ° ' 

> Mr. McClernand, of Illinois, now moved thaf the House recede from 
its amendment striking out the Senate's proposition, and the motion 
prevailed 101 to 107. This vote caused some despondency among the 

► Vide Letter of Senator Seward to the editor of the « National Intelligencer," March 24th, 1849. 



298 LIBERTY AND JUSTICE TRIUMPH. 

friends of liberty. Every member from the slave States voted for Mc- 
Cleruaud's motion, aided by Messrs. Clap, Clark and Willy, of Maine ; 
Brady, Bridges, Brodhead, Brown, Hampton, J. R. Ingersoll, Irwin, 
C. I. Ingersoll, Levin, Stewart and Pollock, of Pennsylvania ; Kennon 
and Sawyer, of Ohio ; Ficklin, McClernand and Richardson, of Illinois. 
Five of the gentlemen mentioned from Pennsylvania were Whigs, active 
friends of the President, and their vote was regarded as indicative of the 
Executive wishes. 

Mr. Thompson, of Indiana, moved to insert in lieu of the Senate's 
amendment a proposition leaving the territory of California as it was 
before its cession to the United States. This made the territory free, and 
the amendment was adopted 111 to 105, and the bill was again returned 
to the Senate, at nearly one o'clock on Sunday morning, the 4th March. 

From various quarters members were assured that General Taylor, 
the President elect, was anxious that the House should accept the 
Senate's amendment, and that his influence had been exerted for that 
purpose. But gentlemen felt too much self-respect to change position on 
so momentous a question thus suddenly, while every advocate of free soil 
was active. Great excitement was manifested in all parts of the hall 
and in the Senate. Members of irregular habits had recourse to artificial 
stimulants, which rendered the scene more gloomy. 

The night was dark, the city was quiet, and most of the spectators 
had left the galleries, while that great battle for freedom in California 
was fought within the Hall of Representatives, against all the influence 
of the slave power, and the blandishments of Executive favor, aided and 
assisted by Senatorial influence. It was between three and four o'clock 
on Sunday morning, that the Senate again took up the last amendment 
of the House for consideration. 

Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, now moved that the Senate recede from its 
amendment. His tone and manner was subdued. His voice faltered, 
and he spoke with evident emotion, saying that it had become evident 
that the House would not agree to the Senate's amendment, and that 
he regarded it as the duty of that body to save the bill and sustain the 
Government. His motion was agreed to, the bill was passed and signed, 
and California was free. 

This victory was obtained under the force of peculiar circumstances. 
General Taylor had pledged himself not to interfere with the legislation 
of Congress ; a man of sincere purposes, he abstained from interference 
until the last days of the session, when it was too late for Whigs who 
entertained feelings of s.lf-respect to change their position. 

The whig party now being in power, northern Democrats were 



THE FATAL BLOW GIVEN. 299 

willing that the new Administration should incur what they regarded 
as the odium of maintaining freedom in California. But that triumph 
may be sa.d to have defeated and demoralized both of the great political 
parties ; above all it was a most signal defeat of the slave power Cali 
forma and New Mexico had been obtained for the purpose of extending 
slavery over them ; and the establishing of freedom in those territories 
was a fatal blow to the institution, from which it never recovered And 
its downfall may be dated from that eventful night 



300 CALIFORNIA REQUESTED TO FOKM A STATE CONSTITUTION. 



CHAPTER XX. 

UNPRECEDENTED CONTEST FOR SPEAKER — THE SPIRIT OF DISUNION DE 

VELOPED THE CONTEST UPON THE ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA PAYMENT 

OF THE DEBTS OF TEXAS DEATH OF MR. CALHOUN. 

At the close of the thirtieth Congress California was left without the 
protection of law. Soon after the adjournment the President dispatched 
a messenger to the people of that territory, requesting them to form a 
State constitution and apply at an early day of the next Congress for 
admission to the Union. It is believed that he attempted to exercise 
no influence in regard to the adoption or repudiation of slavery ; but 
left that question entirely with the people, a policy which resulted in 
the adoption of a free constitution and organization of a State govern- 
ment. 

1849 At the assembling of the thirty-first Congress it was found 

that the members had been elected from the whig and democratic 
parties in nearly equal numbers. The practice of so arranging the com- 
mittees as to sileuce the voice of northern philanthropy had been fully 
maintained by the whig Speaker of the former Congress. The advocates 
of justice and of northern honor now determined that their votes should 
be cast for no candidate who should refuse to pledge himself to abandon 
this practice, so unjust and dishonorable. 

Messrs. Tuck, of New Hampshire ; Allen, of Massachusetts ; King, 
of New York ; Willmot, of Pennsylvania ; Root and Giddings, of 
Ohio ; Julian, of Indiana, and Durkee, of Wisconsin, had been elected 
as advocates of constitutional liberty, and were expected to oppose every 
encroachment upon the constitutional rights of any portion of the 
Union. 

The policy had been introduced at the commencement of the former 
Congress by Messrs. Palfrey, Tuck and Giddings, who refused to vote 
for the whig nominee. The same gentleman was again nominated, and 
those opposed to his election now numbered eight instead of three. 
They boldly demanded of the candidates an avowal of principles. For 
half a century the great effort had been to select candidates for federal 
offices whose views in regard to slavery were unknown. But these eight 
members now determined to vote for candidates whom they knew to be 



THE CONTEST FOR SPEAKER COMMENCES. 301 

rieht and not for men whose highest recommendations were that no one 
knew whether they were right or wrong. 

The two great contending parties were duly informed of this resolu- 
tion, and were assured that when either should present such a candidate 
he should be supported by the votes of the gentlemen named. It was 
conceded that a majority of all the votes was necessary to elect a 
Speaker, and that neither political party could control that majority. 

- rial (it lur members from both political parties appeared anxious to 
with the eight Free-soilers, as they were called from their advocacy 
of freedom to the Territories : Among them lion. John W. Ilowe, of 
Pennsylvania ; Governor Cleveland and Hon. Boothe, of Connec- 
ticut ; lion. Horace Mann, of Massachusetts, and Hon. Joseph Cable, 
of Ohio, were prominent. 

At the usual hour the House convened and proceeded to ballot for 
Speaker, and on counting the votes it was found that the whig candi- 
dal \ Eon. Robert C. Winthrop, had received 96 votes, Hon. Howell 
Cobb had received 103 votes, and Hon. David Willmot had received 8 
vot> 

There were fourteen votes cast for individuals who were not candi- 
dates. 

Of these members 109 had previously acted with the whig party and 
112 had previously acted with the Democrats. These facts clearly in- 
dicated that the Whigs could only hope for success by putting in nomi- 
nation a candidate who should receive the support of the Free-soilers. 

Ou the 4th December, the balloting was renewed, but with no better 
Five ballots were cast without any material change in the 
position of the various candidates : And members of the two great 
parties appeared astonished at finding the Free-soilers immovable in 
the position they had taken. The oldest members of Congress had 
Dever witnessed such a phenomenon, and dark insinuations were thrown 
out against members who would thus endanger the Union : But in 
response to these intimations, both of those parties were assured that as 
soon as either should present a candidate who was recognized as a sin- 
cere supporter of the constitutional right of petition, the Free-soilers 
would sustain him. 

On the 5th, three ballots only were taken without arriving at any re- 
sults. Southern members had recourse to attempts at intimidation, but 
th;' Free-soilers paid little attention to them. 

On the 6th, various propositions were brought forward, all looking to 
the appointment of a chairman as a means by which the friends of liberty 
could be cheated into the support of one of the great parties, but they 



302 ME. BROWN SUrrORTED. 

were all voted down : and the ballotings continued until the 10th, when 
members appeared irritated and spoke with much apparent feeling on 
the subject. To these manifestations of ill-feeling Mr. Root, of Ohio, 
responded in a vein of satirical humor that caused much laughter, while 
he gave members to understand very distinctly that the little party with 
whom he acted were not likely soon to change the position which they 
had assumed. 

Mr. Sweetzer, a Democrat, of Ohio, now proposed an adjournment 
sine die. Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, expressed his approval, but 
no vote was taken upon it. 

On the 11th, the ballotings were continued, with no other result than 
the apparently, satisfactory conclusion that the small band of Free-soilers 
were not disposed to aid the election of a Speaker who would be likely 
to treat the petitions of the northern people with disrespect. 

The 30th ballot showed that William J. Brown, a Democrat, of 
Indiana, had received 109 votes out of 226, being a larger vote than 
any other candidate had received. 

The whig candidate, Mr. Wiuthrop, now rose, and with much apparent 
emotion thanked his friends for their support, and withdrew his name 
from the list of candidates, and the House adjourned. 

This was the first instance in the annals of American politics where a 
candidate for Congressional honors had failed in consequence of his 
devotion to the interests of slavery. Up to this time it had been sup- 
posed necessary for candidates to manifest their interest in the institu- 
tion in order to obtain office, but the policy was now suddenly reversed. 
The incident was regarded with intense anxiety, and showed very clearly 
the increasing influence of the advocates of freedom. 

During the evening, the little band of Free-soilers was informed that 
Mr. Brown was ready to pledge himself so to arrange the committees 
as to secure reports upon petitions concerning slavery. 

Neither the moral nor political character of Mr. Brown recommended 
him to the favor of just and honorable men. Yet the Free-soilers had 
constantly assured the other parties, that whenever they would select a 
candidate pledged to arrange the committees of the House so as to secure 
the right of petition, they would vote for him ; and now all but Mr. 
Root, of Ohio, and Mr. Julian, of Indiana, consented to redeem their 
pledge. 

A committee, consisting of Messrs. Willmot and King, was appointed 
to wait on Brown, and receive from him the written pledge which he 
was said to be prepared to give. He was addressed in writing and 
returned the following answer : 



HIS PLEDGE. 303 

"Washington Citt, Bee. 10, 1849. 
" Dear Sir, — In answer to yours of this date, I will state that should 
I be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, I will constitute 
the committees on the District of Columbia, on the Territories, and on 
the judiciary, in such manner as shall be satisfactory to yourself and 
your Mends. I am a representative of a free State, and have always 
been opposed to the extension of slavery, and believe that the Federal 
G m a! should be relieved from the responsibility of slavery where they 

have the constitutional power to abolish it. 

"W. J. BROWN. 
" Hon. David Wii.lmot." 

The pledge was ample, but the character of Brown was objectionable. 
Mp. Root refitted to sustain him. Julian also objected, and was 
detained from the House by indisposition; but Messrs. Allen, King, 
Wilimot, Dnrkee, Tuck and Giddings felt it their duty to live up to 
the assurance previously held out. 

On the assi mbling of the House next morning, there was great ner- 
vousness among Whigs, and the writer was often inquired of whether he 
intended to vote for such a man as Mr. Brown ? To these inquiries he 
replied that he believed it a duty to vote for Mr. Brown, in order to 
maintairj the constitutional rights of the people, which had been dis- 
regarded by the Speaker of the previous Congress. Those members who 
made the inquiry admitted that the writer had acted frankly and hon- 
estly, but declared that they had not believed that he would ever vote 

fur Mr. Brown. 

The Whigs had elected their candidate to the Presidency, and could 
have electi d a Speaker, by taking any member pledged to sustain the 
constitute oal right of petition, by a proper arrangement of committees ; 
but they would not, and now they saw their party must soon be dis- 
banded. 

An unusual solemnity rested upon the countenances of members as the 
Clerk, amidst the most profound silence, commenced calling the roll, and 
when the name of Charles Allen was called, and that gentleman, in his 
own quiet tone, responded "William J. Brown," there was a distinct 
sensation manifested throughout the hall, and it was renewed when 
Charles Durkee made the same response ; but a most profound anxiety 
and deep interest was visible when the Clerk commenced calling the 
names beginning with the letter G., and as the name of Joshua R. Gid- 
dings was called, and he responded " William J. Brown," a murmuring 
sensation ran through the hall. The fact that he should vote for a 



304 THE VOTE AGAINST BROWN. 

• 

Democrat of Brown's character seemed to strike the Whigs with perfect 
astonishment. 

1849 Southern Democrats had watched the vote of the Free-soilers 

with interest, and when Messrs. Allen, Durkee, King, Willmot, 
Tuck and Giddings voted for Brown, several southern members changed 
their votes, and left Brown in a minority. The vote standing : 

W. J. Brown 112 

William Duer 26 

Edward Stanly . 18 

Charles S. Morehead 11 

Robert C. Winthrop 11 

Edward W. McGaughey .... 13 

and some twenty other votes were cast for individuals who were not can- 
didates. 

Brown had been defeated by southern votes, and he felt the blow : 
But just at the very moment when the whig party should have seized 
upon the favorable moment to elect a Speaker pledged to the Constitu- 
tion, Mr. Stanley, a Whig, of North Carolina, offered a resolution, stat- 
ing that — 

" The democratic party be requested to appoint three members to 
confer with three members of the whig party relative to the choice of 
proper officers of the House of Representatives." 

In his address urging the adoption of his resolution, he applied to the 
Free-soilers terms and epithets unusual in legislative bodies. Mr. Bayley, 
of .Virginia, a Democrat, replied to Mr. Stauley,charging that gentleman 
and the whig party with electing a President who had been silent, not 
daring to say anything on the subject of slavery ; but leaving every man to 
imagine that when elected he would do as each of his supporters desired. 

But the debate soon turned upon the correspondence between Messrs. 
Willmot and Brown. The note of Mr. Brown was read publicly in the 
House, and members engaged in debating the extraordinary circum- 
stances, without aiming at any particular object. 

As the House convened on the 13th, members again appeared solemn. 
They now seemed to realize that the advocates of liberty were not to be 
driven nor flattered from their position. Stanley's resolution was 
regarded as proof that southern Whigs were more disposed to break up 
the whig party than permit it to become the instrument of sustaining 
the constitutional right of petition : and northern members of the whig 
organization appeared to feel that it must be abandoned. Nor did it 
recover. It had come into power without any avowed or definite prin- 



QUARKEL BETWEEN MEADE AND DUEE. 305 

ciples, and at that point its triumph ended. There being no common 
principle on which its members could rally, the organization disbanded, 
and this contest for Speaker constituted its last battle-field ; and the 
movement of Mr. Stanley inflicted the fatal wound of which it died. 

Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, offered a resolution declaring Howell Cobb, 
of Georgia, to be Speaker, and addressed members in support of his pro- 
position. Other resolutions were offered and exciting speeches were de- 
livered. Mr. Meade, of Virginia, as if his patience had been tried to 
the utmost, declared himself ready to vote for any man of any party, 
who would crush this demon of discord now seeking the abolition of 
slavery in the District of Columbia and in our Territories ; but if these 
measures were to be carried, he trusted in God that he had looked upon 
the last Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

This distinct enunciation of disunion sentiments appeared to arouse 
the patriotic feelingS of Mr. Duer, of New York, who proclaimed^ him- 
self ready to vote for any one, * a Whig, or Democrat, or Frec-soiler— 
any man except a disu-nionist." 

Mr. Bayley, of Virginia. " There are no disunionists in this House." 
Mr. Duer. " I wish I could think so, but I fear there are." 
Mr. Bayley. " Who are they ? Point them out." 
Mr. Duer. " I believe there are some from your State ; I think I see 
one of them now" (pointing towards Mr. Meade). 
Mr. Meade, in his scat. " It is false." 
Mr. Duer. " You arc a liar." 

Meade now rushed at Duer : Duer's friends gathered around him, and 
Meade's friends rushed to him. Different voices mingled in angry tones. 
Profane curses and defiant imprecations constituted the only audible ex- 
pressions uttered by the hostile parties. The Clerk called to order at 
the top of his voice ; the Sergeant-at-arms seized the mace and bore it 
into the midst of the crowd, while excited voices from various quarters 
bade him " take away that bauble." 

At length the tumultuous waves began to subside, and the excitement 
gradually died away. Members came to themselves, and one after an- 
other retired to their seats, and when Mr. Duer's voice could be heard, 
he apologized to the House for having used language unbecoming the 
place.* 

Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, was more honest than Meade. He was 
vehement in his denunciation of Free-soilers for taking advantage of this 
occasion to promote their objects, saying, " I do not hesitate to avow 

* Meade challenged Uuer to mortal combat for thus charging him with being a disunionist in 1849, 
but was one of the first to join the disunion rebellion thirteen years afterwards. 

20 



306 DISSOLUTION THREATENED. 

before this House and the country, and in the presence of the living God, 
that if you seek to drive us from the territories of California and New 
Mexico by excluding slavery therefrom, and -abolish slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, I am for dissolution." 

Mr. Duer now explained in a very undignified manner, disavowing any 
intention to exclude slavery from California or New Mexico, or of abo- 
lishing it in the District of Columbia, and insisted that such imputation 
was unjust to nine-tenths of the people of the free States. 

Mr. Inge, of Alabama, inquired of Mr. Duer if he would vote for the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Toombs). 

Mr. Duer replied, " I did hot understand the gentleman from Georgia 
to be in favor of a dissolution except in a certain contingency, and with 
that understanding I would vote for him if necessary to organize the 

House."* 

Mr.. Baker, of Illinois, declared that the people had the right to ex- 
clude slavery from California and New Mexico, and the District of Co- 
lumbia, if they desired, and such exclusion would afford no cause for 
dissolution.^ 

Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, declared that he approved of every word 
that his colleague, Mr. Toombs, had uttered, and assured northern men 
that whenever southern institutions were invaded outside of slave States, 
either in the Territories or in the District of Columbia, the Union would 

be dissolved .J 

Mr. Cleveland, of Connecticut, in a very cool and sensible manner, 
assured southern gentlemen that the people were free, and would exer- 
cise the rights of freemen wherever they had the constitutional autho- 
rity to do so. 

Mr. Colcock, of South Carolina, agreed with Messrs. Toombs and 
Stephens, that the Union would be dissolved whenever slavery should be 
excluded from our Territories or from the District of Columbia. 
1S49 Mr. Allen, of Massachusetts, with dignity of manner and great 

. force of argument, defended the course of the Free-soilers, and in 
chaste and dignified language exposed the threats and supercilious bear- 
ing of southern members. The debate continued to a late hour, and 
very fully and clearly manifested the mortification and disappointment 

* Mr. Toombs, probably, had no more attachment to the Union at that time than he had while 
acting as Secretary of War for the Confederate States thirteen years afterwards. 

+ Mr. Baker was a native of England, a man of fine talents and devoted to the Government. Ke 
was appointed a Brigadier-General in the army of the United States, and fell at the battle of Ball's 
Bluff, in 1862. 

J Mr. Stephens was the first Vice-President of the Confederate Government, a whig, and like Mr. 
Stanley, wielded great influence with northern members of that party. 



A FACTIOUS SLAVEHOLDER. 307 

which southern members felt at their failure to establish slavery in Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico at the previous session. Threats and arrogant 
bluster was regarded as the resort of the slave power. 

Before the adjournment another ballot was had for Speaker, which 
demonstrated the demoralization of both whig and democratic parties. 
The debate and ballotings continued until the evening of the 20th De- 
cember, when the Whigs and Democrats met in separate conventions, 
and appointed committees from the free and slave States to confer and 
agree upon some mode of organizing the House. 

The writer having heard some hints in regard to these meetings, called 
out the facta in open session, by interrogating Mr. Ashman, a Whig, of 
Massachusetts. 

The 21st December was entirely occupied in debate. The House was 
as yel an unorganized body of men. Each member was controlled by 
his own sense of propriety. In accordance with this common propriety, 
ami from necessity, the Clerk had from the commencement of the govern- 
ment called members to order, at 12 o'clock on the first *day of each 
Congress, and calling to his as-i.stauce four members, had proceeded to 
call the roll and receive the votes for Speaker, who, soon as elected and 
nworn, assumed official functions; but up to the 22d December the 
members had been unable to elect a Speaker : yet all had demeaned 
- in an orderly manner, save in the affair between Messrs. Duer 
and Meade, and they had quietly submitted all questions of order to the 
decision of the Clerk, agreeably to former precedent. On the day last 
referred 1", Mr. Toombs, a Whig, of Georgia, claimed the floor, for the 
puqiose of addressing the House ; but was called to order from various 
parts of the hall as the House were proceeding to vote on a pending 
question. Toombs insisted on speaking ; the Clerk declared the call for 
yeas and nays on the pending question to have been carried, and com- 
menced calling the roll. Toombs, setting at defiance that courtesy and 
respectful demeanor towards his fellow-members which had ever controlled 
their action, continued in a loud tone of voice to address the House. 
The Clerk proceeded in calling the roll of members, and while thus em- 
ployed and the members were responding to their names, Toombs became 
more boisterous in his tone and manner ; members, unable to hear their 
names when called, left their seats and gathered around the Clerk's desk 
and made their responses to the call, while Toombs, apparently enraged, 
now spoke at the very top of his voice to the members, not one of whom 
was paying any attention whatever to his vehement tirade, and no re- 
porter attempted to give any sketch of his remarks. The Clerk declared 
the vote. Toombs continued speaking in the most boisterous manner, 



308 SUICIDE OF THE WHIG PARTY. 

and the Clerk and other members continued the regular business amid 
great disorder for thirty or forty minutes, when, apparently from physical 
exhaustion, Mr. Toombs suspended further effort, and Mr. Staunton, of 
Tennessee, as chairman of a joint committee of the whig and democratic 
parties, stated that said committee had agreed to advise the House to 
proceed to take three more ballots for Speaker, and if no election be 
had, the roll should be again called and the candidate receiving the high- 
est number of votes should be declared duly elected. 

The writer then offered a resolution setting forth that as the 
Constitution required a majority of all the votes given to elect a 
Speaker, no vote of a minority of the members could elect such 
officer ; but as one-fifth of the members were not in favor of this reso- 
lution, the yeas and nays could not be obtained, and it was rejected. 
The House then adopted Mr. Staunton's report by a vote of 113 to 106. 

On the adoption of this report there was some exultation, but the 
older and more considerate members regarded it as a precedent for 
setting aside the Constitution in coming time. 

The three ballots were taken and the House reached the contingency 
contemplated in the report ; and the Clerk proceeded to call the roll of 
members for the final vote, being the sixty-third ballot. After the roll 
had been called, Mr. Tuck, of New Hampshire, rose and changed his 
vote from Mr. Willmot to Mr. Wiuthrop. The other members of that 
little band remained firm to the last, and the vote was declared as follows : 
for Howell Cobb, 102 ; for Robert C. Winthrop, 99 ; for David Will- 
mot, 8. 

Mr. Stanley then rose and proposed a resolution declaring Mr. Cobb 
to have been* duly elected. This proposition was adopted by a vote of 
147 to 34. Mr. Cobb then took the oath of office and was duly installed 
as Speaker of the House.* 

Tiiis contest was one of unprecedented duration. The fact that eight 
members, acting upon what they deemed their constitutional duty, voted 
for no man who would not pledge himself to uphold the constitutional 

* The whig party had ever been controlled in ita action by southern members. Indeed, a perfect 
infatuation appeared to have taken possession of the northern members of that organization. At 
any day during the three weeks of conflict they could have elected any member of the party who 
would pledge himself to sustain the constitutional right of petition, by appointing committees who 
would report on northern petitions. There was no pledge demanded that they should report in 
favor of such petitions ; but the demand was that the petitions should be respectfully responded 
to. Tet that party suffered Mr. Stanley, a slaveholder, to lead them to disbandment rather than 
sustain the right of petition. 

It should be further borne in mind that the Free-soilers proposed to vote for Mr. Stevens, of Penn- 
sylvania, without any pledge, as they regarded him committed to the support of the Constitution by 
his past life. 



SPEAKER ELECTED BY RESOLUTION. 309 

rights of the free States, set at defiance the taunts and threats and per- 
secution of the two great parties, met the slander and detraction of 
partisan presses, and finally maintained their moral and political integ- 
rity, compelling the two pro-slavery parties to unite in order to preserve 
the influence of the slave power, constitutes an important incident in the 
" regime of slavery." 

Experienced statesmen then saw that the whig party had voluntarily 
surrendered up its existence at the dictation of its slaveholding members. 
True, it attempted to rally on the Presidential election of 1852, but it 
failed, and with this election of Speaker that party ceased to exist as a 
potential organization. 

This result also demonstrated the political principle that the advocates 
of slavery and the supporters of liberty cannot act together when pro- 
perly confronted by those who would maintain the principles which lie at 
the basis of our Government. 

The House being organized, the President transmitted to Congress 
his first annual message, informing the members that the people of Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico had formed State governments and adopted 
State constitutions, and would at no distant day apply for admission to 
the Federal Union. This circumstance was regarded as favorable to the 
cause of human freedom, and was gladly hailed by the friends of human 
rights. 

The violent attacks of the whig press upon the Free-soilers who had 
so firmly refused to vote for any candidate who would cot pledge 
himself to maintain the constitutional right of petition, attracted gene- 
ral attention throughout the country. They denied that those mem- 
bers were actuated by patriotic motives, but insisted that they had re- 
fused to vote for Mr. Winthrop for the purpose of destroying the whig 
party. 

In consequence of these assaults, Mr. Root took occasion to inform the 
House and the country that Mr. Cobb held the office of Speaker by 
virtue of Mr. Stanley's resolution, and not by the votes of eight Free- 
soilers. 

A debate of a mixed character, being in part personal and in part 
political, followed, in which the writer participated, sustaining Mr. Root 
and justifying the " Free-soilers," while Messrs. Winthrop and Rockwell, 
of Massachusetts, and Schenck and Vinton, of Ohio, endeavored to 
vindicate the whig party. The discussion manifested the intense hostility 
of the Whigs towards those who devoted their energies to promote the 
cause of liberty and civilization. 

Both Whigs and Democrats also appeared to feel that .the interests 



310 TffR VOICE OF VERMONT. 

of humanity had been too successful in excluding slavery from California, 
and that measures must be adopted to placate the slave power. 

On the 31st December, Mr. Root offered a resolution directing the 
Committee on Territories to report a bill organizing all that territory 
obtained from Mexico ; and laying east of California, excluding slavery 
therefrom. Delays were interposed until the 4th February, when the 
resolution was rejected by a vote of 105 to 75. 

In accordance with the policy adopted by the Executive in regard to 
California, the people of New Mexico formed a State constitution and 
government, excluding slavery, and applied for admission to the Union ; 
but after some delay the application was rejected, the democratic party 
having control of the House, as it was then organized. 
1850 , Mr. Upham, of Vermont, presented to the Senate a resolution 

adopted by the Legislature of that State, declaring " that slavery 
is a crime against humanity and a sore evil in the body politic, that was 
excused by the framers of our Federal Constitution, entailed upon the 
•country by their predecessors, and tolerated solely as a thing of inexora- 
ble necessity ;" and calling on Congress to exclude it from the Territories 
of the United States, from the District of Columbia, from the high seas, 
and from all other places where Congress holds exclusive jurisdiction. 

The presentation of this resolution occasioned a spirited debate. 
Mr. Yulee, of Florida, objected to its being printed. He regarded 
the language declaring slavery a crime as offensive to the people of 
other States. Mr. Mason, of Virginia, also referred to the language 
in terms of condemnation. 

Mr. Phelps, of Vermont, maintained the right of the people of his 
State to speak their own views without restraint. 

Mr. Boreland, of Arkansas, spoke with great severity, proclaiming a 
dissolution of the Union if language like that used in this resolution 
was tolerated. 

Mr. Chase, of Ohio, a new member from that State, thought that the 
rule of the Senate should be maintained, that every State had the right 
to express the views of its people upon all subjects, includiug that of 
slavery, and assured Senators that the State of Ohio would be likely to 
speak the sentiments of her people, irrespective of threats of disunion, 
let them come from what quarter they may. 

. Tins was the first time Mr. Chase spoke in the Senate. He had 
been one of the leading anti-slavery men of Ohio, and was elected 
to the Senate as such. He had spoken and written in favor of 
the natural rights of mankind ; and southern members were well ac- 
quainted with his character. Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, a man of 



THE VOICE OF MISSOURI. 311 

age and high position, replied to Mr. Chase, declaring that South Caro- 
lina had made great sacrifices in surrendering to Congress the power 
over commerce and navigation ; and then read a long letter written by 
Mr. Chase, declaring the doctrines which he had long maintained in public 
and in private, manifesting the singular coincidence of action between these 
two Senators : Mr. Chase having desired the public to understand his 
views with tlte expectation that they would be sustained ; while Mr. 
Butler read them to the Senate with the expectation of injuring the in- 
fluence of the Ohio Senator. The debate continued four days, but at its 
conclusion the resolutions were ordered to be printed. 

Mr. Benton presented resolutions from the Legislature of [1850 
Missouri, declaring that the Federal Constitution was a compro- 
mise of conflicting interests ; that it gave no power to Congress to 
legislate upon the subject of slavery, except in regard to the African 
slave trade and the return of fugitive slaves. "That any attempt to 
legislate upon the subject of slavery in the District of Columbia or in 
the Territories would be a violation of the Federal Constitution tending 
to a dissolution of the Union." 

The students of our political history will wonder at these ab- 
surd doctrines put forth by legislatures of that day. The Govern- 
ment had been founded upon the avowed right of every human being 
to liberty, and the Constitution had declared that no person should be 
deprived of liberty without trial by due process of law : Yet professed 
statesmen, under excitement, solemnly placed on record the opinion that 
Congress could not legislate for carrying out the very purpose of its 
existence. Hut the absurdity of these resolutions become most apparent 
when we call to mind the fact that slavery and the slave trade in the 
District of Columbia and upon the high seas had been established by 
oougressional legislation, and the power of Congress to repeal its own 
enactments was then denied by the slave power. 

The Legislature of Missouri, however, declared further, that in case 
Congress legislated for the exclusion of slavery from the District of 
Columbia or from the Territories, that State would be found acting with 
other slave States in favor of any measures deemed necessary to preserve the 
rights of her people. 

Mr. Benton, on presenting these resolutions, declared that the Legis- 
lature of his State had mistaken the feelings of her people, who would 
never be found acting in favor of a dissolution of the Union* 

Mr. Hale presented the petition of citizens of Pennsylvania, praying 

* Missouri was subsequently the first of the slave States to declare in favor of emancipation. 



312 THE VOICE OF NOKTH CAKOLINA. 

Congress to take measures for the peaceful dissolution of the Amerl 
can Union.. This aroused the feelings of southern members, who 
denounced the memorialists with great bitterness, in a debate of two 
days upon the p*>priety of receiving the petition, which was finally 

excluded.* 

Mr. Mano-um, a Whig, of North Carolina, presented the resolutions 
of a popular meeting in that State denouncing the people of the free 
States as fanatical and dishonest, and threatening a dissolution of the 
Union if, what they termed, the rights of t/ie South were interfered 

with. 

It is among the curiosities of slaveholding literature that plainness 
of language was never used where slavery was concerned ; thus, these 
resolutions spoke of the rights of the South, meaning slavery and the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia, in the Territories, and on the 
high seas, and if these were interfered with, the people of North Carolina 
would secede from the Union. 

Mr. Hale objected to the reception of this memorial which threatened 
violent dissolution, as the petition which he had presented but a few 
days before from Pennsylvania had been excluded from the Senate, be- 
cause it asked a peaceful dissolution. 

But this memorial from North Carolina was respectfully received and 
referred to the Committee on Printing, to be published or withheld from 
publication as they might think proper, only two democratic members 
voting against the proposition, to wit, Messrs. Douglas, of Illinois, and 
Bradbury, of Maine. 

Mr. Seward, of New York, presented the petition of some two 
hundred and twenty citizens of that State praying the abolition 
of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and asked its 
reference to the appropriate committee ; but its reception was refused. 
Messrs. Bright, of Indiana; Dodge and Jones, of Iowa; Cass, of Michi- 
gan; Douglas, of Illinois; Dayton and Miller, of New Jersey, voting 
with the slaveholders to exclude the petition. 

From all parts of the free States petitions were now daily presented 
in each House of Congress for the abolition of slavery and the slave 
trade in the District of Columbia, in the Territories of the United States, 
and upon the high seas. Others requested that Congress would publicly 
acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being, and the duty of obey- • 
ino- His law : while from various slave States memorials were presented 

* Thirteen years after this debate every southern member who assailed these memorialists with 
invective, was sustaining an armed rebellion against the Union, which they had proclaimed sacred 
to every American. 



A FEEE CONSTITUTION IN CALIFORNIA. 313 

setting forth the- blessings of slavery, declaring it a divine institution 
and praying Congress to extend its benefits. 

But the subject which attracted more attention than any other, was 
the question of admitting California as a free State. The people of that 
far distant territory had, in accordance with the Executive wish, formed 
a constitution and State government, and now asked admission to the 
Union of States. They had expressly prohibited slavery, by the consti- 
tution, from existing in that important region, which the slave power 
had designed as the abode of abject servitude. 

The advocates of slavery now learned by experience, that the 
slaveholder, with his servants domiciled around him, with his [185 °' 
plantation and its peculiar paraphernalia regulated and adapted to the 
taste, the habits, and' wants of the owner, was not only unwilling to 
remove to a new country, but was positively unable to do so without 
great sacrifice of property, of ease, and of comfort. In consequence of 
these difficulties, not a large slaveholder had removed to California, and 
but few owners of a small number of slaves were to be found there, at 
the time the people were shaping the institutions of that embryo State ; 
while young and enterprising citizens from every free State had taken 
up their abode in the territory, almost as soon as the treaty had been 
signed. Theso young and active men were lovers of liberty, and were 
careful to give the proper character to the constitution and laws of 
California. 

Having failed to establish a slaveholding government in the territory 
acquired for that purpose, the slave power was at once arrayed against 
its admission as a free State. Accordingly, the debate on that question 
was opened by Mr. Clingman, of North Carolina. He appeared clearly 
to comprehend the danger to slavery arising from the progress of Chris- 
tian civilization ; and that the institution could be preserved from imme- 
diate destruction only by obtaining further concessions in its favor before 
California should be admitted. He was candid in his statement of the 
views and designs of the anti-slavery men. He admitted their object 
was merely to exclude slavery from the District of Columbia, from the 
Territories, and from the high seas ; making a total separation of the 
Federal Government from all support of the institution.* He denounced 
these objects as unconstitutional. He spoke of the loss of slaves by 
voluntary emigration to Canada, complained that northern men would 

* It is a singular fact, that while some slaveholders were thus candid and specific in their 
assertion of the objects of anti-slavery men, northern presses and northern pro-slavery politicians 
denounced anti-slavery men in general terms; but never made any specific charges, which could 
be met and disproved. 



314 ABSUED CLAIM OF TEXAS. 

not capture them ; and insisted that Congress was bound to enact a 
more efficient law for their arrest and return. He spoke freely of dis- 
union, and insisted that the northwestern States would unite with the 
South, if the Union were dissolved ;* and cautioned northern men to 

beware. 

Mr. Howard, of Texas, said the public ought to know whether a 
southern President had induced the people of California to adopt a 
constitution excluding slavery ; declaring that the South had ever re- 
quired of Presidential candidates express pledges to maintain southern in- 
terests. But the burden of Mr. Howard's speech was the right of Texas 
to all the territory lying east and north of the Rio Grande. 

Perhaps history records no instance of a more unfounded assertion of 
claim, than that of Texas to the territory mentioned. 

The intendency of Texas, and that of Coahuila, had been originally 
united under one government ; and when about to separate, a commis- 
sion was appointed to establish the line between them. At the head of 
this commission was General Almonte, for many years Minister to the 
United States. The line of demarkation commenced at the mouth of 
the Aransas, one hundred and forty miles north of the Rio Grande, and 
extended northwesterly at about the same distance from that river to 
the east line of New Mexico. Most of this last mentioned intendency, 
with Santa Fe, its capital, its custom-house and many of its most 
populous villages, lay east of the Rio Grande. 

Texas revolted in 1836, and, by resolution, declared all the territory 
north and east of the Rio Grande to belong to her people, and sent an army 
to New Mexico ; but every man was killed or taken prisoner. Another 
army had marched upon Mier, on the Rio Grande, within the inten- 
dency of Chihuahua ; but every man was killed, taken prisoner, or made a 
hasty retreat back to Texas. And the Mexican custom-house, lying 
north of the mouth of that river, continued to receive duties ; and all 
acts of jurisdiction were exercised by Mexico over the whole territory, 
between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, until the American army, 
under General Taylor, marched towards Brownsville, when he met the 
Mexican army, and the battle of Resaca de la Palma was fought upon 
the territory which the slave power now declared to have belonged to 
Texas. . 

18501 ^' ie territory thus arrogantly asserted to be a part of Texas, 

was of an average width of one hundred miles, and extended from 

the mouth to the source of the Rio Grande, being some two thousand 

* This is now the watchword with the noi-thern democracy, at the time of writing these sketches— 
1363. They are merely repeating the language of Mr. Clingman. 



A COERUPT PROPOSITION. 315 

miles— including some twenty towns and populous villages, whose people 
had never seen a Texan officer, nor obeyed any other than Mexican 
law-. 

This vast country had been conquered by our army ; and by treaty, 
the United States had acquired title to it, paying Mexico its full value in 
money. But Texas now claimed it, as a part of her original territory. 
To yield this vast country to slavery, would be to obliterate the iutendeu- 
cy of New Mexico, and an obvious, violation of our treaty. Texas pro- 
claimed her intention to dissolve the Union, unless permitted to occupy 
this whole country, thereby making it slave territory; and raised an 
army, under pretence that she was intending to take possession of it by 
f-rcc of arm.-;— although the United States was at that moment sup- 
porting an army on the frontiers of Texas, at an expense of more than 
two million dollars annually, to defend the people of that State against 
the Indians. 

The advocates of justice insisted that Texas should be restricted to her 
i 1 boundaries, according to the provisions of the joint resolutions of 
annexal i. in. Thus was another important issue formed between the sup- 
porters of slavery and the adherents of liberty. It had grown out of 
the annexation of Texas, which the democratic party had assured the 
people would forever settle all controversy in regard to slavery. Never, 
perhaps, was the great law of unerring truth and retributive justice 
more'clcarly manifested than in these various attempts to extend slavery. 
Indeed, the political history of the United States during these transac- 
tion, is little mure than the record of a connected series of retributions 
for violating the rights of our fellow-men: Yet few of our American 
statesmen appeared to comprehend the feebleness of human sagacity 
when attempting a violation of immutable justice. 

This proposition to give Texas the territory in question came before 
the Senate, when Colonel Benton led off in opposition to it, but pro- 
posing to pay Texas fifteen million dollars from the public treasury as an 
indemnity for territory to which she had no more claim than she had to 
Mexico itself. 

Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, was greatly irritated at Colonel Benton's 
proposition, and became so personal in his remarks that Mr. Benton 
left the hall. He then compared the Senator from Missouri to Cati- 
line in the Roman Senate, and exhibited the most intense anger towards 
him. 

Mr. Calhoun was now aged and infirm ; his voice had become 
tremulous and his step feeble. Consumption had fastened upon 
his system, and as he approached the consummation of his earthly exist- 



316 LAST SPEECH OF ME. CALHOUN. 

ence, he saw that all his plans for placing human servitude in a posi- 
tion of safety had failed, and he appeared desponding and gloomy. 
"Unable to speak in the Senate, he wrote out the thoughts which 
he desired to express and asked a fellow member to read it to the 
Senate. 

His speech opened with gloomy forbodings as to a continuance of 
the Union, saying that our danger arose from the conviction of the 
southern people that their rights were disregarded by those who dis- 
cussed the slave question. Assuming that all discussion of slavery from 
whatever cause it arose, whether from the annexation of Texas, the 
Mexican war, or the consignment of California to oppression, was 
wrong and injurious to southern interests, he easily arrived at the con- 
clusion that the lovers of liberty were really dangerous to the existence 
of the Union, and expressed the opinion that nothiug. could' save it but 
such an amendment of the Constitution as would secure to it a suffi- 
cient support. This was the last speech of the greatest statesman of the 
South. He said a few words on two subsequent occasions, and died 
about three weeks afterwards. 

Amid this feeling of excitement in relation to tjie claims of slavery, 
Mr. Benton publicly proposed that Mr. Clay should introduce some mea- 
sure of compromise in order to restore harmony upon the various ques- 
tions then pressing upon Congress. That distinguished statesman had 
advocated the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and had again held out 
the olive branch to Mr. Calhoun and his confreres in 1832. He was now 
advanced in age, and time had made its mark upon his physical system ; 
but, although in the decline of life, his influence was great, and' in accord- 
ance with the apparent desire of the Senate, he brought forward a pro- 
position, First, To admit California as a free State. 

Second, An organization of the Territories without restriction of slavery. 
Thirdly, Giving to Texas all the territory lying east of the Itio 
Grande, formerly belonging to Coahuila and Chihuahua, but saving to 
New Mexico her ancient territory. 

Fourthly, The United States to pay the debts of Texas due at the 
time of annexation. 

Fifthly, That slavery should not be abolished in the District of 
Columbia while Maryland retained the institution, nor until the people 
of the District desired it. 

Sixthly, That it is expedient to prohibit the bringing of slaves from 
the surrounding country into the District for sale. 

Seventhly, That further provision should be made for the recapture 
and return of fugitive slaves. 



ME. CLAY S COMPROMISE DEFEATED. 317 

Eighthly, That Congress has no power to prohibit the inter-state 
slave trade. 

Mr. Clay, when he laid these propositions before the Senate, was sur- 
rounded by different circumstances from those which had given him suc- 
cess in 1820 and in 1832. Slaveholders had grown arrogant, and the 
advocates of liberty were inexorable in their support of human rights, 
and could no longer be misled nor deceived by men of distinction. In- 
deed it is difficult to conjecture how he should have imagined that Con- 
could silence the popular voice against slavery in the District of 
Columbia, or reconcile the people of the free States to the extension of 
is over such a vast territory as that proposed; or to paying that 
State for so much of New Mexico as lies east of the Rio Grande ; or to 
the continuance of slavery in the District of Columbia until Maryland 
should abolish the institution ; or to become the instruments for catching 
fugitive slaves ; or to the continuance of the coastwise slave trade. 

However, he urged the adoption of these measures in an able speech ; 
but was interrupted by Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, who inquired if he held 
to the constitutional power of Congress to abolish slavery in the District 
of Columbia ? Mr. Clay and his associates had always proclaimed that 
men in a state of nature were equally entitled to liberty ; while Mr. 
Foote, and most southern men at that time, believed that in a state of 
nature the strong have a perfect right to enslave the weak ; therefore 
the holding of slaves must be a natural right, lying behind and above 
human enactments and human constitutions. 

To reconcile minds thus opposed to each other constituted a work 
which no human power could accomplish. The resolutions were de- 
bated almost daily during an entire month, when they were postponed 
indefinitely. 

On the 4th February, Mr. Disney, of Ohio, presented a series , 1850 
of resolutions proposing such an amendment to the Consti- 
tution as would prohibit Congress from excluding slavery from the Ter- 
ritories of the United States, which, after colloquial debate, were laid on 
the table ; and responsive to this movement, Mr. Giddings introduced 
resolutions declaring, " life and liberty to be gifts of God inherent 
and inalienable, for the protection of which governments are insti- 
tuted among men. That in establishing governments in any territory it 
is the duty of Congress to secure all the people thereof in the enjoy- 
in^ :t of those rights." 

in order ^to test the sense of members upon these essential doctrines, 
the yeas and nays were ordered. Mr. luge, of Alabama, moved to lay 
the resolutions on the table, which was equivalent to a motion to reject 



318 VOTE IN REGARD TO ESSENTIAL TRUTHS. 

them ; and on this vote all members from the slave States voted in the 
affirmative, and the vote of the free States was divided as follows : 
Maine. There was no vote in the affirmative. 

Nay — Messrs. Gerry, Goodenow, Littlefield, Sawtel, and 

Stetson, 5 

New Hampshire. There were no yeas. 

Nay — Messrs. Peaslee and Willson, 2 

Massachusetts. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Allen, Duncan, Fowler, King, Man, and 

Rockwell, 6 

Rhode Island. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Dixon and King, 2 

Connecticut. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Booth, Butler, Cleveland, and Waldo, . . 4 
Vermont. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Hibbard, Henry, and Peck, 3 

New York. Yea — Mr. Briggs, 1 

Nay — Messrs. Alexander, Andrews, Burroughs, Clark, 
Conger, Duer, Gott, Gould, Jackson, John A. King, 
James G. King, Preston King, Nelson, Phoenix, Putnam, 
Reynolds, Risly, Rumsey, Sacket, Spaulding, Scher- 
merhorn, Silvester, Underhill, Walden, and White, . . 25 
New Jersey. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Hay and Vandyke, • . 2 

Pennsylvania. Yea — Messrs. Butler, Case'y, Fuller, Maan, Pitt- 
man, Robbins, and Ross, 7 

Nay — Messrs. Calvin, Dickey, Chandler, Friedly, Hampton, 
Howe, Moore, Ogle, Reid, Stevens, Thompson, and 

Willmot, 12 

Ohio. Yea — Messrs. Miller and Taylor, 2 

Nay — Messrs. Cable, Campbell, Carter, Corwin, Disucy, 
Evans, Giddings, Hunter, Morris, Olds, Potter, Root, 

Schenck, Thurman, Vinton, and Wood, 16 

Indiana. Yea — Messrs. Albertson, Brown, Fitch, Dunham, and 

Gorman, .5 

Nay — Messrs. Harlan and Julian, 2 

Illinois. Yea — Messrs. Bissel, Harris, McClernand, Richardson, 

and Young, 5 

Nay — Mr. Baker, * . . 2 

Michigan. Yea — Mr. Buell, 1 

Nay — Mr. Sprague, 1 

t 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA OPPOSED. 319 

Wisconsin. Yea — none. 

Nay — Messrs. Cole, Doty, and Durkee, 3 

Iowa. Yea — Mr. Leffier, 1 

The aggregate showing 104 in the affirmative and 84 in the negative. 
There was not an affirmative vote from the six Xew England States, nor 
from N( w Jersey or Wisconsin. Of the twenty-six votes from New 
York only oue was in the affirmative, while the smaller States of Michi- 
gan and Iowa each gave one vote against these doctrines. Two of the 
sixteen from Ohio, five of the seven cast by Indiana, and five of 

the six given by Illinois, were in favor of slavery, while only twenty-two 
members from the free States were willing to deny the great principle of 
human rigl 

On the 12th February, Mr. Hale presented a petition, numerously 
signed, praying the exclusion of slavery from California and New 
Y. xico, which gave rise to personal imputations by Mr. Butler, of South 
Carolina, which were ably met and exposed by Mr. Hale. 

The Presidenl aow communicated to both Houses of Congress copies 
of the constitution of California. In the Senate, Mr. Douglas moved its 
reference to the Committee on Territories. This question of reference 
being debatable, the whole subject of slavery in the territory obtained 
from Mexico came under general discussion. 

In the Souse ol Representatives a similar motion was made; and 
that body now engaged in one of the most intensely interesting debates 
that ever agitated the nation. These discussions were the natural 
and inevitable, consequences of the annexation of Texas and the conse- 
quent war with Mexico. No sophistry could disguise this obvious 
truth ; yet while it was in progress the democratic party asserted, 
reiterated, and constantly insisted that the agitation was the work of 
the Free-soilers. 

The debate was occasionally interrupted by other questions touching 
slavery. Mr. Dayton, of New Jersey, presented to the Senate a petition 
praying further legislation against the African slave trade, which stirred 
up much feeling in that body, and the debate upon it occupied one entire 
day. 

Mr. Giddings presented to the House of Representatives a memorial 
from the Quakers of Delaware and Pennsylvania, setting forth that 
slavery was a violation of God's attribute of justice, must bring upon the 
nation a severe retribution, and prayed that Congress would take measures 
for an immediate and peaceful dissolution of the Union. 

Mr. Giddings moved its reference to a select committee with instructions 
to inquire — 



320 DISRESPECT FOE THE PEOPLE. 

Firstly, Whether dissatisfaction with our Federal Union exists among 
the people ? If so, to what extent ? 

Second, From what has such dissatisfaction arisen ? 

Thirdly, The proper means for restoring confidence among the 

people ? 

It appeared that few members were willing to meet this question in 
an undisguised and friendly manner. It was admitted on all hands that 
Congress could constitutionally take no means for dissolving the 
Union ; but, in favor of referring the petition, it was urged that every 
cause of dissatisfaction should be frankly met, and explained or removed 
in a spirit of respectful kindness. But this policy was opposed by the 
entire South, and by almost the entire North. Messrs. Goodenow, of 
Maine ; Allen, of Massachusetts ; Howe, of Pennsylvania ; Preston 
King, of New York ; Giddings and Root, of Ohio ; Julian, of Indiana, 
and Durkee, of Wisconsin, only voting for the reference. 



A SOUTHERN CONVENTION PROPOSED. 321 



CHAPTER XXI. 

A MOVEMENT TOWARDS SECESSION MR. WEBSTER'S POSITION — FUGITIVE SLAVE 

ACT — TEXAN EFFRONTERY — CORRUPTION UNDISGUISED SENATORIAL DIGNITY 

OUTRAGED CALIFORNIA ADMITTED AS A FREE STATE. 

The first session of the thirty-first Congress was rendered , 1850 
memorable by the issuing of an address by southern members 
of Congress to their constituents, calling attention to the efforts about 
to be made to exclude slavery from the territory of California and from 
all the country then recently obtained from Mexico, and charging that 
the people of the free States were not active in their efforts to arrest and 
return fugitive slaves. The address further announced that northern 
people were constantly agitating the subject of slavery. These were the 
causes of complaint then urged by .the united voice of nearly all southern 
members of Congress agaiust the people of the free States. They were 
definite, and incapable of being misunderstood. Opposition to the 
extension of slavery and to all participation in the crime of arresting and 
returning fugitive slaves, constituted the gist of their complaint. The 
charge of agitation was then regarded as somewhat ludicrous, in view of 
the fact that southern statesmen had urged the annexation of Texas for 
the avowed purpose of extending and perpetuating slavery; but denounced 
all opposition to that measure as " agitation." They were at that time 
Baking to extend the institution over the territory acquired from 
Mexico ; but characterized all opposition to that measure as " agita- 
tion." They were demanding a new and more efficient fugitive slave 
act ; but asserted that opposition to it constituted " agitation." 

This address appeared to be a well defined step towards a separation 
of the States and the formation of a Southern Confederacy. 

In response to this address, several southern States took incipient 
measures for severing the bonds which had long bound them to. the com- 
mon sisterhood. Mississippi was the first to move on this subject. Her 
Legislature, by joint resolutions, declared that efforts had been made for 
the last thirty years to deprive the southern people of their rights in the 
Territories of the United States : that the time had come for the southern 
States to take action in favor of their own safety ; and for that purpose, 
a Southern Convention ought to be held. 

These resolutions were presented to the Senate by Mr. Davis, who 

21 



322 OKIGIN OF THE FUGITIVE LAW OF 1850. 

spoke briefly in support of the right of slaveholders to carry their "human 
chattels " into the Territories of the United States, and to receive from 
Congress the same protection which they received for other property ; 
and he asserted that free governments had been formed in California 
and New Mexico, under the apprehension that they would not be recog- 
nized with slaveholding institutions.* 

1850 ^ ne * ssue between slavery and freedom soon became more fully 

developed. As the advocates of freedom resisted all encroach- 
ments upon the rights of the free States, the slave power became more 
assiduous in its demands for support. On the 6th March, Mr. Hun- 
ter, of Virginia, submitted to the consideration of the Senate a reso- 
lution calling on the Secretary of State for copies of all papers relative 
to the deportation of slaves by the British anny and navy during 
the revolutionary war ; and inquiring whether any measures had been 
adopted since the treaty of 1194 for the recovery of compensation from 
the British government. The proposition was received with marked 
respect, and was referred to the appropriate committee, but was never 
reported upon. 

These episodes in the regular debate were confined to the subject of 
slavery, and constituted no change of the spirit or the theme which now 
occupied the attention of both Houses of Congress. 

Mr. Mason, of Virginia, had, on leave, introduced a bill to amend 
the fugitive slave law of 1193. It had been referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary, of which Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, was chairman. T 
This bill excited much debate ; and much interest was felt to hear Mr. 
Webster's views in regard to it, in consequence of the fame which he had 
acquired as a constitutional lawyer. It was known that he believed 
the Constitution had given to Congress no authority to legislate in 
regard to fugitive slaves, but that the power had been reserved to each 
of the several States. 

In intellect he may be said to have stood at that time without a rival. 
Nature had bestowed upon him her richest gifts. He was characterized 
for extraordinary concentration of thought. His logic was compact, 
and appeared to be irrefutable : and no speaker used the English lan- 

* It was on this occasion that Mr. Davis first committed himself fully to the doctrines of secession ; 
an act which the author has ever believed that gentleman regretted, although he subsequently 
became President of the Confederate States. 

t It is a matter of some curiosity that Mr. Butler, in his report, maintained the very doctrines of 
the Free-soilers on this subject ; declaring that the Constitution had intended that the several 
States should legislate for the return of fugitive slaves ; that this construction had been held by 
the founders of the Government ; but he stated, as the States had failed to do their duty in this 
respect the obligation devolved upon Congress. The legitimacy of this sequence does not appear 
very clearly. 



ArOSTACY OF ME. WEBSTER. 



323 



gouge more appropriately. He had long stood among the leading 
statesmen of the nation, and his mind had been enriched by an experience 
to which few men attain. He was literally the favorite statesman of 
Boston, and as that city then gave tone to the popular feeling of the 
State, he was said to have a controlling influence in Massachusetts :* 
Probably at the period of which we are now writing, he exerted a 
greater moral power throughout the free States than any other man, 
although his political influence had been somewhat diminished by his 
service in the Cabinet of Mr. Tyler, whose administration had proven 
unpopular. But he had great defects of character, common to the age 
in which he lived. He had been reared and educated in the school of 
political expediency, which taught the separation of moral principle from 
the duties of political life. He regarded mankind as so ignorant and 
depraved, that no political organization could be Sustained upon the 
basis of mural truth. He was ambitious, and publicly aspired to the 
Presidency. 

II bad given anti-slavery members of Congress to understand that 
he would sustaiu their doctriucs. He even submitted the skeleton of his 
speech to the inspection of one or more leaders of that party, who pro- 
nounced it satisfactory, and Frce-soilers anticipated that he would lend 
his influence in favor of carrying forward the great moral enterprise of 
redeeming the nation from the thraldom of human bondage. But the 

at leading defects of his character disqualified him for the discharge of 
thai high duty. He did not believe in the omnipotence of moral truth. 
In his judgment and conscience he drew a line of demarkation between 

iral duties and political action. With all his high qualities, his great 
experience, his gigantic intellect, he had failed to understand that moral 
truth and immutable justice constituted the only basis of true greatness 
and- of certain success in political life. He was ambitious, and after 
mature reflection, he appeared to think that his only pathw.ay to the 
Presidential chair lay through the regions of slavery. 

In commencing his speech, known as his 7th March expose - , he was 
solemn in manner, and lucid in his historical facts, clearly defining the 
encroachments of slavery, and attributing the. responsibility of those 
wrongs to the democratic party, while at the same time he gradually 
laid the foundation for his own departure from principle by admitting 
the past action of the Government to constitute precedents from which 
he asserted that the then present age was not at liberty to depart. 

He then declared that soil and climate had excluded slavery from 

* It was said by ex-President Adams that he himself was unable to obtain a seat in the Senate of 
the United States, in consequence of Mr. Webster's influence in the Legislature. 



324 HUMILIATION OF THE FREE STATES. 

California and New Mexico, and asserted that he would do no act to 
prohibit its existence therein. Having thus placed himself in direct oppo- 
sition to the friends of liberty and to northern whigs, who, as a body, 
had ever opposed the extension of slavery ; he proceeded to declare in 
regard to fugitive slaves, that he had ever regarded the Constitution as 
referring the duty of capturing and returning fugitive slaves to the 
several States ; but said the supreme court had decided that the power 
of legislating on that subject remained exclusively with Congress ; and 
he declared it the duty of statesmen to obey that decision ; and then he 
expressed his concurrence in the propriety of passing the bill before the 
Senate, for the capture and return of fugitive slaves. He proceeded to 
declare that their capture and return was binding upon the honor and 
conscience of the American people. Having thus asserted the revolting 
infidelity that human constitutions may change or dictate the moral 
duties of men, he proceeded to denounce those who sought to evade or 
get round the commission of such crimes, or as he expressed it, the 
" duties " of seizing and sending to slavery innocent men and women ; a 
crime which, under the laws of Congress, was at that period punishable 
with death, if committed on the African coast. He denounced the public 
press for speaking in offensive language of the institution, and referred 
to what he characterized as " foolish speeches in both Houses of Congress. 11 
He declared secession impossible, and expressed his belief that the Nash- 
ville (secession) Convention would be guided by high and just motives. 
He proceeded so far as to admit the claim of Texas to the vast country 
north and east of the Rio Grande, and asserted his willingness, if she 
would surrender a portion to New Mexico, to grant her from the 
tiational funds a just compensation.* 

By this speech a blow was struck at freedom and the constitutional 
rights of the free States, which no southern arm could have given. It 
shook the pillars of our American temple ; but its reaction prostrated in 
political death the giant who seemed to have directed his deadly aim at 
the heart of liberty. At the close of his speech, those who listened to 
him appeared to regard his political prospects as totally annihi- 
lated.! 

This speech greatly encouraged the supporters of slavery. Mr. Web- 
ster's friends were numerous and wealthy throughout Massachusetts and 

* The history of American legislation perhaps furnishes no parallel to the corruptions embraced 
in the measures here proposed. 

t In the speech of Mr. Webster, as published, is a paragraph setting forth the wrongs perpetrated 
by the slave States upon the colored citizens of the free States ; but he did not name It in the speech 
when delivered. He inserted it afterwards, at the suggestion of a friend that he should have 
maintained the rights of the North in this respect. 



INFIDELITY AND COEKUPTION. 325 

the North. In order to sustain him they adopted his doctrines, and with 
him united their political fortunes to the South. 

The speech occasioned great sensation in the free States. Mr. Web- 
ster was denounced as a traitor to human rights and to the interests of 
the free States. Public meetings of the people, and several State Legis- 
latures by resolutions, repudiated the doctrines he had thus solemnly 
asserted. Remonstrances against it were presented in both Houses of 
Congress. These, and almost every subject of legislation which came 
before that body, furnished questions for debating the institution of 
slavery in 6ome of its phases ; and it may be truly said that four-fifths 
of the time of each LTouse was devoted to that subject during the first 
six months of the session. 

One of the questions to which the attention of Congress and the 
country was directed was presented by Mr. Crowell, of Ohio. On the 
27th May, that gentleman asked leave to present to the consideration 
of the House a bill for the abolition of the slave trade in the District of 
Columbia, and on this question of leave one hundred members, mostly 
from the free States, voted in the affii-mative ; while sixty from the slave 
States, assisted only by Messrs. Miller, of Ohio, and James Thompson, 
of Pennsylvania, voted against the proposition. Leave was obtained, 
but the bill never came up for action. 

The philosophy of that day, which discarded moral principle from the 
political code, extended further than was generally understood by the 
people. Many men who held office and were popular believed that 
corruption was necessary to the support of every form of government ; 
that neither political parties, nor governments, could be held together 
without a free use of corrupt means. During the session of Congress now 
under consideration a resolution was introduced, calling attention to the 
fact that the Secretary of War had unjustly, and without any legal or' 
equitable claim, obtained from the treasury $234,871 86, as the represen- 
tative of one George Galphin, an Indian trader, who, in 1773, obtained 
a cession of lands from the Indians which had by the revolution become 
the property of the State of Georgia. That State had very properly 
repudiated the claim as altogether fabulous ; but the heirs of Galphin 
appealed to Congress, and such was the influence of southern members 
that the claim for $43,518 97 was granted. One-half of this sum was 
received by Mr. Crawford, Secretary of War, as one of the heirs and 
attorney for the others. But, not satisfied with this, he now demanded 
of the treasury annual interest on that sum, amounting to $191,352 89. 
He, being a member of the Cabinet, obtained the money. A select 
committee having reported the facts to the House of Representatives, 



326 SLAYEHOLDING INSOLENCE EXPOSED. 

declared that the money was obtained unjustly, and without legal or 
equitable right. This report was confirmed by the House, and Mr. 
Crawford retired to private life with a vast fortune plundered from the 
public treasury, in full accordance with the doctrine that corruption is 
necessary to the support of governments. This immense fraud resulted 
from slaveholding influence, and was the legitimate sequence of the doc- 
trine which sustained slavery and had long controlled the Government. 

The slave question was now rendered more complicated, by a most extra- 
ordinary proceeding on the part of the Executive of Texas. As already 
'remarked, she claimed all that part of New Mexico which lies east 
of the Rio Grande, including its capital Santa Fe, its custom-house and 
its most populous towns and villages. Mr. Webster, and other politicians 
who were obsequious to the slave interest, admitted the claim to be just, 
and the Governor of Texas sent a Commissioner, with orders to organize 
counties in New Mexico under Texan laws, declaring that that State 
owned 'the territory. The people of New Mexico were indignant, The 
United States had guaranteed to them the enjoyment of all their muni- 
cipal rights by treaty ; and the Texan Commissioner, finding himself in 
danger, fled from the scene of his labors. The Governor of Texas now 
called on the President to withdraw the Federal troops from the territory, 
in order that he might send those of Texas, to enforce her laws in this 
ancient intendency. He declared that, if the Federal troops were not 
immediately withdrawn, he would send those of Texas to dislodge them. 

This insolent threat was put forth only four years after the annexation 
of Texas ; and its real character can only be appreciated by bearing in 
mind that the war which followed annexation cost the United States 
some three hundred millions of dollars, and they had furnished an army 
to protect the Texans from the miserable hordes of Indians that hung 
upon her frontier, at an expense of three millions per annum. 

Mr. Fillmore was President. He selected Mr. Webster for his Secre- 
tary of State, after that gentleman had made his 1th March speech, 
declaring all the country east of the Rio Grande to belong to Texas, 
and his willingness to pay Texas from the treasury of the United States 
for such part of New Mexico as lay east of that river. 

The President and Cabinet appeared greatly alarmed at the threats 
put forth by Texas. Leadiug Whigs and leading Democrats professed 
great fears that Texas would dissolve the Union. And instead of sending 
a military force to suppress the threatened rebellion, a bill was intro- 
duced into the Senate, proposing to pay the State of Texas ten millions 
of dollars, for the territory to which she never had the shadow of a 
claim. This surrender of our national dignity, in consequence of the 



FIRST VOTE ON ANNEXATION. 327 

harmless threats of the Texan executive, presented a melancholy spec- 
tacle to the patriots of that day. The popular mind attributed it to the 
moral cowardice of those who controlled the action of Congress and of 
the Executive ; but men who mingled in the public couueils of the nation, 
those who had the best opportunities for judging, attributed the course 
of leading statesmen to an emotion far less honorable than cowardice. 

Previous to this time, Texas bonds had been regarded as of little value. 
They were sold as low as seventeen cents- upon the dollar. But it was 
seen that the proposed payment would raise the price of those bonds at 
least to seventy cents upon the dollar. This proposition aroused the 
mercenary feelings of stock jobbers and gamblers, who gathered about 
the Capitol, and members of the Senate and of the House of Represen- 
tative became purchasers of Texas bonds. Even members of the Cabinet 
were charged with having purchased large amounts at small prices, to 
be returned in case the bill alluded to should fail of becoming a law. 
Members of Congress offered some of their fellow-members a hundred 
thousand dollars of Texas bonds, to be paid for at seventeen cents upon 
tin- dollar, ami if the bid passed they were to be received back by the 
vender at sixty-seven dollars on the hundred, so as to give the purchaser 
fifty thousand dollars for his vote. Indeed, it was asserted that the 
value of Congressional votes was witnessed by the transfer books of 
certain banks. Ladies of members threw off disguise, and insisted that 
those members who had refused to become interested should purchase 
Texas bonds, so as to secure the passage of the bill and make fortunes 
fur the) and familie 

The bill passed the Senate on the 10th August and came to the 
House. Here it met with great difficulties, the anti-slavery members 
assailing it with force, publicly charging its supporters with bribery. 
The first vote taken upon it was to refer it to the Committee of the 
whole House on the state of the Union, which was carried by 101 to 
99. This would have been equivalent to a rejection of the bill ; but a 
motion to reconsider was made and carried. The contest became spirited : 
members changed from one side to the other. As the day wore away 
members appeared to settle into a determined purpose, and on the vote 
for engrossing the bill, 80 members recorded their names in the affir- 
mative and 126 voted in the negative. Nearly all the southern members 
voted for the engrossment, and were sustained by northern members as 
follows : From 
Maine. . . . Messrs. Fuller, Gerry and Littlefield, .... 3 

New Hampshire. " Peaslee and Willson, 2 

Massachusetts . " Elliott and Grinnel, 2 



328 BILL DEFEATED AND RECONSIDERED. 

Vermont . . . Mr. Hebard, 1 

New York . . Messrs. Andrews, Briggs, Brooks, Duer, Gould, 

McKissock, Phoenix, Rose, Underbill, 

Walden, and White, 11 

New Jersey . " James G. King, Yan Dyke, and Wildrich, 3 
Pennsylvania . " Butler, Carey, Chandler, Diinmock, Levin, 

Job Maun, Moore, Ogle, Pitman, Rob- 
bins, Strong, aud Thompson, . . . .12 
Ohio .... " Disney, Hoagland, Schenck, Taylor, Thur- 

man, and Yinton, 6 

Indiana ... " Albertson, Brown, Dunham, and Gorman, 4 
Illinois ... " Harris, McCleruand, and Young, ... 3 

Michigan. . . Mr. Buell, .1 

Iowa .... Mr. Leffler, ; 1 

Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Wisconsin furnished no vote for the 
bill. The result was declared by the Speaker amid intense excitement. 
Many appeared disappointed at the failure. Free-soilers declared that 
they had supposed the work of corruption to have been more perfect. But 
Mr. Boyd, of Kentucky, a leading Democrat, moved a reconsideration. 

On the following morning a motion was made to lay the proposition 
to reconsider on the table : And members who were supposed really to 
desire the passage of the bill, but were unwilling to vote for it, were 
now constrained to vote against the pending motion to lay the proposi- 
tion to reconsider on the table, or suffer the bill to be defeated at this 
stage of the proceeding. 

Many members who had voted against the passage of the bill, appa- 
rently anxious for its defeat, now changed positions and voted against 
its defeat, apparently anxious for its passage. Those who thus placed 
their contradictory votes on record were Messrs. Duncan, Mann, and 
Rockwell, of Massachusetts ; Dixon and King, of Rhode Island ; Meach- 
am and Peck, of Yermont ; Burroughs, Conger, John A. King, Nelson, 
Ramsey, Sylvester, and Schermerhorn, of New York ; Calvin, Friedly, 
Gilmore, and Ross, of Pennsylvania ; Carter, Evans, Potter, Sweetzer, 
and Whittlesey, of Ohio ; Fitch aud Halloway, of Indiana ; Richardson 
and Wentworth, of Illinois. 

Thus was the bill now saved from defeat by a vote of 135 to 11, 
although it had been refused engrossment ou the previous day by a vote 
of 126 to 80. 

It was near the close of the day when the House again arrived at a 
direct vote upon the engrossment of the bill, and the following members 



A SECOND DEFEAT AND RECONSIDERATION. 329 

who had voted against it on the previous day, now voted for it, to wit : 
Messrs. Mann and Rockwell, of Massachusetts; Dixon and Kino- of 
Rhode Island; Meacham and Peck, of Vermont; Burroughs, Conger, 
John A. King, Ramsey, Sylvester, Schermerhorn, of New York; Cal- 
vin and Friedly, of Pennsylvania; Carter, Evans, Sweetzer, and Whit- 
tlesey, of Ohio; Halloway, of Indiana, and Wentworth, of Illinois. 

As the count proceeded, and members saw the engrossment of the 
bill was again defeated, the excitement became intense, and the Speaker 
was for a time quite unable to be heard, but at length he again de- 
clared the question lost. Mr. Howard, of Texas, again moved a recon- 
sideration ; but the Speaker promptly replied that a second reconsidera- 
tion was not in order. From this decision an appeal was taken, and the 
House adjourned. 

On reassembling the next morning, the countenances of members 
would have presented a rich scene for the pencil. Some sat with knitted 
brows and compressed lips, sternly silent amid the moral pestilence 
which appeared to surround them. Others were nervous, and evidently 
ill at ease with themselves ; others appeared desperate, and determined 
to secure fortunes for themselves by transferring money from the pockets 
of the people to their own ; while the one usual and universal excuse for 
all corruptions was iterated and reiterated, and constantly repeated on 
every hand, that the passage of the bill was necessary " to save the 
Union" 

The first question was upon sustaining the Speaker in declaring that 

the second motion to reconsider was out of order. He was himself a 

slaveholder, and supposed to be anxious for the passage of the bill ; 

but would not violate his duty and parliamentary law in order to effect 

that object. It appeared impossible for any man to mistake the law 

of legislation which the Speaker explained so clearly. Opponents of 

the measure declared the proposition to reverse the Speaker's decision 

most obviously corrupt. They asserted that neither pusillanimity nor 

cowardice could induce members to vote for it : But it was sustained. 

The vote given by the free States was as follows : 

From Maine, Messrs. Gerry, Otis, Sawtelle, and Stetson voted in the 
affirmative ; Messrs. Fuller and Littlefield in the negative. From New 
Hampshire, Mr. Tuck vofed alone in the affirmative, and Messrs. Hib- 
bard, Peaslee, and Willson in the negative. From Massachusetts, 
Messrs. Allen, Fowler, Maun, and Rockwell sustained the Speaker ; while 
Messrs. Duncan, Elliott, and Grinnell voted against his decision. From 
Rhode Island, Messrs. King and Dixon voted in the negative ; while all 
the members from Connecticut, Messrs. Booth, Butler, and Waldo, voted 



330 A MOST EXTKAOKDINARY VOTE. 

in the affirmative. From Vermont, Messrs. Henry and Peek sustained 
the Speaker's decision ; while Messrs. Meacham and Hebard voted to 
reverse it. From New York, Messrs. Alexander, Bennett, Clark, Con- 
ger, Gott, Preston King, Jackson, Matteson, Sacket, and Schoolcraft 
maintained the Speaker's decision, and Messrs. Andrews, Briggs, 
Brooks, Burrows, Gould, Rose, Reynolds, Putnam, Ramsey, Jackson, 
John A. King, McKissock, Nelson, Phoenix, Schermerhorn, Sylvester, 
TJnderhill, Walderi, and White voted to overrule the Speaker's decision. 
From New Jersey, Mr. Newell voted in the affirmative ; and Messrs. 
James G. King, Van Dyke, and Wildrick gave their voices in the nega- 
tive. From Pennsylvania, Messrs. Dickey, Howe, Read, and Stevens 
voted in the affirmative, and Messrs. Butler, Chandler, Calvin, Casey, 
Dimmock, Friedly, Gilniore, Levin, Maun, McLanahan, Moore, Ogle, 
Pitman, Robbing, Ross, Strong, and Thompson voted in the negative. 
From Ohio, Messrs. Cable, Campbell, Corwin, Crowell, Disney, Giddings, 
Hunter, Morris, Root, Schenck, and Sweetzer voted in the affirmative, and 
Messrs. Carter, Evans, Hoagland, Olds, Potter, Taylor, Thurman, Vin- 
ton, and Whittlesey voted in the negative. From Indiana, Messrs. 
Fitch, Halloway, and Julian sustained the Speaker's judgment; and 
Messrs. Albertson, Brown, Dunham, Gorman, Harlan, and Robinson 
gave their votes to overrule it. From Illinois, Mr. Baker voted in the 
affirmative, and Messrs. Harris, McClernaud, Richardson, Wentworth, 
and Young voted in the negative. From Michigan, Messrs. Bing- 
ham, Buell, and Sprague voted to sustain the Speaker's judgment. 
From Wisconsin, Messrs. Cole, Doty, and Durkee voted to support 
the Speaker's decision ; while Mr. Leffler, from Iowa, voted to over- 
rule it. 

Fifty-four votes from the free States were given in favor of the deci- 
sion of the Speaker, while seventy-two members from the free States 
voted to overrule it, in order that the bill might become a law. There 
were men from the slave States who would not place their names on 
record in behalf of this obvious attempt to overrule all parliament- 
ary law : Messrs. Ash and Venable, from North Carolina ; Averet, 
Bayley, Edmundson, Holliday, Mead, Parker, and Powell, of Virginia; 
Burt, Colcock, Holmes, McQueen, Orr, Wallace, and Woodward, of 
South Carolina; Bay, Hall-, and Phelps, of Missouri; Haralson and 
Jackson, of Georgia; Bowdon, Harris, Hubbard, and Inge, of Ala- 
bama; Brown, Featherston, and McWillie, of Mississippi; Johnson, of 
Arkansas; La Sere and Morse, of Louisiana, and Staunton, of Tennes- 
see, constituting thirty-two members from the slave States, making in 
all eighty-six votes in favor of sustaining the Speaker's decision, while 



FURTHER BARBARISM PROPOSED. 331 

seventy-two votes from the free States and fifty from the slave States, 
amounting in all to one hundred and twenty-two votes, were cast to re- 
verse the Speaker's decision, in order that the bill might pass. 

Perhaps it were impossible for the reader, or any person not present at 
the time, to form a correct idea of the scene presented on that occasion. 
Every one seemed confident that the appropriation of this ten millions 
would be an unmitigated robbery of the treasury to gratify the insolent 
demand of Texas ; while southern statesmen tauntingly asserted that 
they could carry any measure that would place money in the pockets of 
northern members. It was also manifest that while many northern 
men who dared not vote for the bill, even under the plea of saving the 
Union, were quite willing to extricate it from the grave to which the 
vote of the House and the Speaker's decision had legally consigned it. 

There was no further difficulty encountered in the progress of the bill. 
It reached its third reading and final passage by a vote of 108 to 97, 
and many members who were said to have left home poor, were reported 
to have returned to their families with handsome fortunes ; while the 
only excuse which they attempted to render for their votes was, that 
they were given " to save the Union." Indeed there appeared to be no 
crime so damning that its perpetration could not be justified by this 
plea. The Union became the professed ultimate object for which 
American statesmen labored : To attain that object the Constitution 
was disregarded ; and truth, justice, and human nature were trampled 
upon. 

It has been previously remarked that the framcrs of the Constitution, 
and the early American statesmen, supposed that all legislation in 
regard to the capture of fugitive slaves had been specifically reserved to 
the several States. But the slave power, in 1793, prevailed on Con- 
gress to pass a law on that subject. The Supreme Court subsequently 
decided that the State Legislatures could not interfere in the matter, 
and that Congress alone held constitutional power to pass laws in 
regard to it. From the passage of the act of 1793 it had been used 
as a means for arresting and carrying into bondage free colored persons 
from the northern States. But the law itself was odious from its 
passage. The people of the free States cherished the love of liberty ; 
they detested slavery, and most of them refused to be involved in 
the crime of arresting slaves. The arrest of a man charged with no 
offence but the love of liberty, the placing irons upon his limbs and 
carrying him to interminable bondage, could not be regarded by an 
enlightened Christian people otherwise than barbarous ; and in a moral 
view, really as piratical as to do the same thing in Africa. The sym- 



332 A NEW FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW REPORTED. 

pathy of all good men must of necessity be with the oppressed. Yet 
at the period of which we are writing, the slave power demanded a 
more stringent fugitive law than that of It 93, which itself was so odious 
that it could not be enforced in many of the States. 

After the passage of the act paying the State of Texas ten million 
of dollars, the pretended value of territory to which she had no title or 
claim, southern statesmen insisted that northern members would concede 
anything which the South might demand ; and in demanding the passage 
of the fugitive act of 1850, they appeared desirous of testing the degree 
of servility to which northern members of Congress had been reduced. 

This loill was early reported by Mr. Mason, in the Senate, and the 
celebrated speech of Mr. Webster had been delivered upon it early as 
the 1th March ; but it did not come up for general debate in the Senate 
until near the close of August. Mr. Webster had left that body 
and was acting as Secretary of State under Mr. Fillmore ; but the bill 
was supported by Messrs. Butler, of South Carolina ; Foote, of 
Mississippi, and Mason, of Virginia. They took the bold ground that 
slaves were property in every moral sense, and to the same extent that horses 
are property ; and that the framcrs of the Constitution intended that 
Congress should compel the people of the free States to capture and 
return them to their masters whenever they escaped. 

The passage of the bill was ably opposed by Messrs. Hale and Chase. 
They drew a marked distinction between persons and property ; showed 
the absurdity of the doctrine that Congress could have any legitimate 
power whatever over the life and liberty of innocent men, or authority 
to place those prerogatives at the disposal of other individuals. They 
maintained the very obvious philosophy that Congress possessed no con- 
stitutional or moral power to authorize one man or a number of men 
to murder or enslave innocent persons. That no act authorizing or 
requiring the people of the free States to murder or enslave men or 
women who were innocent of crime could confer moral or constitutional 
authority to commit those crimes ; nor would it impose any moral or 
constitutional obligation upon the fugitive to submit to be murdered or 
enslaved. They contended that the second section of the fourth article 
of the Constitution gave to Congress no powers of legislation upon this 
subject ; but that such powers had been expressly prohibited to Con- 
gress by the tenth article of the amendments. 

On the question of engrossing the bill, all the Senators from the slave 
States voted in the affirmative, and Messrs. Sturgeon, of Pennsylvania, 
and Jones, of Iowa, were the only Senators from free States who voted 
with the South ; while Messrs. Bradbury, of Maine ; Upham, of Yer- 



THE VOTE. 33 



mont ; Davis and Winthrop, of Massachusetts ; Greene, of Rhode 
Island ; Baldwin and Smith, of Connecticut ; Dayton, of New Jersey ; 
Cooper, of Pennsylvania ; Chase, of Ohio ; Dodge and Walker, of 
Wisconsin, voted against the bill ; and Messrs. Hamlin, of Maine ; 
Hale and Norris, of New Hampshire ; Phelps, of Vermont ; Clark, of 
Rhode Island ; Seward and Dickinson, of New York ; Miller, of New 
Jersey ; Ewing, of Ohio ;* Bright and Whitcomb, of Indiana ; Doug- 
la- and Shields, of Illinois ; Cass and Felch, of Michigan, constituting 
one half of the Senators from the free States, did not vote. This failure 
to vote on a bill so barbarous called down upon the silent Senators 
severe criticism. The fact that they so far stifled the voice of their 
reral States on a subject of such importance was regarded by both 
pi-!; a as un.4atesmanlike, and unworthy of American Senators. 

The bill having passed the Senate, was taken up in the House of Re- 
pp - entativ • -, on motion of Mr. Thompson, of Pennsylvania, who, 
having made a speech in favor of its passage, moved the previous 
question. There was great indignation felt at the attempt to press such 
a bill through the House without debate, and a motion was made to lay 
it on the table. It was the expectation and confident belief that every 
member really opposed to the bill would vote to lay it on the table, as 
that would have been a final defeat of the measure. On this motion 
the members voted as follow- : 
Maine. Yea— Messrs. Otis, Sawtell, and Stetson, 3 

Nay— Messrs. Fuller, Gary, and Littlefield, 3 

x „ Hampshire. Yea— Mr. Tuck, 1 

Nay — Messrs. Hebbard and Peaslee, 2 

Massachusetts. Yea— Messrs. AUen, Duncan, Fowler, and 

Mason, ■* 

Nay— Mr. Elliott, 1 

Vermont. Yea — Messrs. Henry, Hebard, and Meacham, ... 3 

Rhode Island. Yea-^Messrs. Dixon and King, 2 

Connecticut. Yea — Messrs. Booth, Butler, and Waldo, ... 3 
New Yokk. Yea — Messrs. Bennett, Burrows, Clark, Gott, Gould, 
Jackson, John A. King, Preston King, Matteson, 
McKissock, Nelson, Ramsey, Sacket, Schermerhorn, 
Schoolcraft, Sylvester, and Underhill, 11 

Nay — Messrs. Briggs, Brooks, and Walden 3 

* President Taylor died in July, and the Vice-President Fillmore succeeded him in office, and 
called to his assistance Senator Webster ; and Mr. Winthrop was appointed to fill that Senator's 
plac Mr Cor™, of Ohio, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury ; and Mr. Ewmg was 
appointed to fill his place in the Senate. 



334 ANALYSIS OF THE VOTE. 



• 



New Jersey. Yea — Messrs. Hay and King, 2 

Pennsylvania. Yea — Messrs. Calvin, Casey, Chandler, Friedly, 
Hampton, Howe, More, Reed, Stevens, Mann, and 

McLanahan, 11 

Nay — Messrs. Butler, Dimniock, Robbins, Ross, and 

Thompson, 5 

Ohio. Yea — Cable, Campbell, Corwin, Crowell, Evans, Gid- 
dings, Hunter, Morris, Root, Thurman, Vinton, Whit- 
tlesey, and Wood, 13 

Nay — Carter, Disney, Hoagland, Miller, and Taylor, . 5 
Indiana. Yea — Messrs. Halloway, Harlan, Julian, Robinson, . 4 
Nay — Messrs. Albertson, Dunham, Fitch, Gorman, Mc- 
Donald, and McGarghy, 6 

Illinois. Yea. — Mr. Wentworth, 1 

Nay — Messrs. Bissel, Harris, McClernancl, Richardson, 

and Young, 5 

Michigan. Yea — Messrs. Bingham and Sprague, 2 

Wisconsin. Yea — Messrs. Cole, Doty, and Durkee, .... 3 

Iowa. Yea — Mr. Leffler, 1 

There were sixty-eight votes from the free States in favor of laying 
the bill on the table, and thirty against it ; all members from the slave 
States voted against the motion, which was lost. The bill was then 
put upon its passage, and Messrs. Carter and Disney, of Ohio ; Briggs, 
of New York ; and Fitch, of Indiana, changed positions, and voted 
against the bill, which they had just voted to preserve from defeat. 
While Messrs. Andrews, Palmer, Phoenix, Spaulding, Reynolds, Rose, 
White, Risley, Bokee, Conger, and Duer, of New York ; Baker and 
Richardson, of Illinois ; Cleveland, of Connecticut ; Gilmore, Levin 
Ness, Ogle, Pitman, Strong, and Willmot, of Pennsylvania ; Ashman 
and Griunell, of Massachusetts ; Newel and Vandyke, of New Jersey ; 
Schenck and Sweetzer, of Ohio, failed to vote ; but such was the feeling 
among the people, that these efforts to avoid responsibility by refusing to 
vote, brought upon silent members more disfavor than they would have 
incurred by voting for the bill, which was passed, 105 votes to 73. 

The bill declared it the duty of all good citizens to be active and 
vigilant in their efforts to arrest and return fugitive slaves ; and affixed 
severe penalty on every attempt to aid or assist the fleeing bond- 
man to escape the fangs of the human bloodhounds who were pursuing 
him. 

The cruelties which this bill authorized and required of northern citi- 
zens were so revolting to the public conscience, so directly at war with 



CHARACTER OF THE BILL. 335 

Christian civilization, that it was denounced in all parts of the free States 
as disgraceful to the nation and the age in which it was enacted. Mr. 
Fillmore, the President, with Mr. Webster and Mr. Corwin among the 
members of his Cabinet, approved the bill and it became a law, so far as 
human enactments violative of the natural rights of mankind can be 
called laws. Yet the action of the President, aided by the influence of 
a majority of Congress as well as of his Cabinet, and by that of his 
friends throughout the free States, could not stop the progress of thatde- 
testation in which the people of the free States regarded this undisguised 
attempl t<> make them the catchpoles of southern slaveholders. 

Mr. \V> bster uow began to comprehend the sad mistake he had made 
in his speech on the 7th March, and yet hoping to save himself and 
friends from the odium which seemed to await the advocates of this bill, 
he wp te Professor Stuart of the Theological Seminary of Andover, re- 
questing thai venerable divine to address the Christian public on the 
subject. The able professor now turned his attention to the plan of 
guiding lh< n ligious sentiment of the country to a favorable considera- 
tion of this <Kiinus law. He published an essay entitled "Conscience 
and the Constitution," urging the capture and return of fugitive slaves 
as a /■ duty. Other divines united their influence with that of 

Profes i- Stuart, and a strong effort was put forth to prostitute the 
religion of the free States to the commission of the revolting crime of 
capturing and rgenslaving professed Christians who were fleeing from 
bondage. Nor should we forget that the argument in favor of the pas- 
sage of the law as well as in favor of its execution consisted in the asser- 
tion that it was " necessary to save the Union? 

Put a free and enlightened people could not be misled on a measure 
so barbarous; They pronounced those divines who advocated the cap- 
ture of slaves " hypocrites unworthy of Christian Fellowship," and many 
statesmen and members of Congress descended to premature political 
graves in consequence of their advocacy of this measure,* and no effort 
on the part of the advocates of slavery seemed capable of staying the 
feeling of indignation which appeared to prevail throughout the free 
States. 

Put each surrender of northern rights and northern honor most ob- 
viously eonflrmed southern men in the conviction that the northern 



* Reverend Orville Dewey, a clergyman of the Unitarian Church, distinguished for ability and 
learning, in a public lecture was said to have declared that he would seize his " own mother and 
return her to slavery in order to save the Union." The learned divine modified his assertion, de- 
claring that he used the word " brother''' 1 instead of " mother," but this modification appeared in 
no degree satisfactory to the public mind. 



336 A SENATOKIAL AFFKAT. 

people were destitute of that moral courage, that unbending integrity, 
which would enable them to maintain a government separate from the 
slave States. Southern men began to utter the maxim that "cotton 
is king," and many of them believed the commercial importance of 
that article rose so for superior to all other considerations, that no 
abuse, no degradation of the North, would stimulate then statesmen to 
a resistance of southern dictation : and this idea was frequently put 
forth after the passage of the fugitive slave act, and few northern mem- 
bers repudiated the dishonorable imputation. 

It was late iu September before the bill to admit California came up 
for action. It had boon delayed near seven months iu order to pass the 
bill to pay Texas ten millions dollars and this fugitive slave act. As 
early as the 12th March the President had transmitted to the two 
Houses of Congress copies of the Constitution of California and the cre- 
dentials of her Senators and Representatives ; but in the Senate the vote 
ou admitting that State had been postponed until the 13th August, 
when all the Senators from the free States, with Messrs. Bell, of Tennes- 
see ; Benton, of Missouri ; Wales and Spruance, of Delaware, and Un- 
derwood, of Kentucky, voted for the bill, and all the Senators from the 
slave States except those named voted against it. 

The debate had been able, at times it was animated, and aroused much 
feeling on the part of those who participated in it. Indeed slaveholding 
members could not disguise their chagrin and mortification at seeing a 
free State formed from the territory acquired at their instance for the 
avowed purpose of establishing slave States. Mr. Beuton had long en- 
tertained the conviction that Mr. Calhoun and other leading statesmen 
of the South intended to dissolve the Union and erect a southern slave- 
holding confederacy. For this conviction he became obnoxious to those 
who were plotting the destruction of the Union in order to eternize the 
institution of slavery. 

Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, appeared desirous of a personal altercation 
with the venerable Senator ; but up to that period members of the Senate 
had seldom forgotten the dignity due to their stations. Mr. Foote appear- 
ed incapable of restraining his feelings, and his language became so offensive 
that the gallant old colonel appeared unable to withstand it longer. He was 
a man of powerful frame, though sixty years of age, while Mr. Foote was 
younger and very properly numbered among the " light-weights." Ben- 
ton's courage had been tested on the field, and although Foote had also 
met his foe in the cluella, his firmness under danger was not so univer- 
sally acknowledged. When Mr. Foote's language appeared no longer 
endurable, Mr. Benton rose and stepping into the outer aisle proceeded 



BOUTHEBH rROTE8TS AGAINST CALIFORNIA. 337 

with rapid strides directly towards Mr. Foote, with the iutention as he 

d of passing out of the chamber at the front door. Mr. Foote 

seeing the stalwart form of his opponent approaching under evident ex- 

'itt inent, concluded that "discretion was the better part of valor," and 

starting from his scat retreated towards the presiding officer, at the same 

time drawing a pistol, apparently intending to shoot his supposed assailant. 

This " it < ntation of arms" exerted an electric effect upon the spirit of 

Col. Benton, who now in a loud voice cried, " stand bade, let him shot," 

as he violin: rated bis clothing and exposed his bosom to the ex- 

d shut of Mr. Foote. Instantly every Senator was upon his feet, 

-Mine calling to order and others rushing between the parties. Several 

sed Col. Benton and conducted him back to his seat, when 

me unmanageable, and breaking from those around him, again 

d towards Foote, using language too emphatic for record. Other 

Senators rushed between them, disarmed Foote and conducted Mr Ben- 

ton again to his scat, and restored order ; and the Senate proceeded with 

the bnsinesE bi fore it. 

Mr. Benton was a Democrat, had long been a leading member of that 
party, and was more perfectly informed as to the intentions of southern 
men in regard to secession than any other man not engaged in the plot. 
And while Mr. Webster in his speech on the 7th March had expressed 
conlidcnce in the " Nashville Convention," Mr. Benton was impatient 
at hearing any man doubt that the object of leading southern men and 
of that convention was the disruption of the Union ; and the scene just 
related may be regarded as the first senatorial demonstration of violence 
between the lovers of the Union and Secessionists.* 

The feeling of southern statesmen and people in regard to the exclu- 
sion of slavery from California was illustrated by public meetings, held in 
Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, at which resolutions, declaring the 
admission of California as a free State would be a stupendous fraud upon 
the people of the slave States, and threatening a separation from the 
free States unless slavery were admitted to all our territory south of 36 
deg. 30 min. north latitude. 

But these demonstrations could not intimidate northern members. 
The vote in the House of Representatives upon the admission of Cali- 
fornia as a free State showed 151 members in favor of that measure, and 
only 5 7 against it, nearly all of whom were slaveholders. 

Tins incident will long constitute an important era in our political 
history. We have already stated, that near the close of the thirtieth 

* At the time of writing these sketches, a.d. 18C3, Mr. Foote is an actlr^ member of the Confede- 
rate Congress; but Colonel Benton waa an unwavering friend of the Union :ntil his death, in 13a8. 

22 



338 CULMINATION OF SLAVERY. 

Congress, when the House of Representatives defeated the adoption of 
the Senate's amendment to the civil and diplomatic bill, which was in- 
tended to establish slavery in California, that institution passed its cul- 
minating point ; and from that date its permanent decay and final disso- 
lution commenced. 

From the decline of slavery that of the whig and democratic organi- 
zations could not be separated. Both of these parties had sought to 
propitiate the slave power. Each numbered many slaveholders as 
members ; and the northern wing of each appeared perfectly conscious 
that without the support of at least a portion of the slaveholding in- 
terest it must fail. The lovers of liberty, under the uame of " Free- 
soilers," were united, compact and determined in resisting every encroach- 
ment of the slave power. Every struggle tended to bring before the 
people the moral power of those who based their action upon truth and 
justice, while ' they constantly developed the crimes of slavery to the 
public view. 

It may prove useful for future statesmen and politicians to understand 
that leading Whigs and leading Democrats, instead of attempting to 
reform their parties or to conform their own action to the laws of truth 
and immutable justice, continued their efforts to destroy the reputation 
and influence of those who stood forth most boldly as the supporters of 
freedom and the equal rights of mankind : And the writer will be ex-- 
cused for referring to himself so far as to say that he became the subject 
apparently of much hatred and odium among the politicians of both 
parties. They appeared to regard every effort of his against slavery as 
aimed at those parties, and during this first session of the thirty-first 
Congress, as the writer and his friends had apparently defeated the ex- 
tension of slavery into California, and exposed the corruptions of the 
bill paying the debts of Texas, the feeling against him appeared to 
know no bounds. He was charged with purloining papers from the 
General Post-office : And the charge was published simultaneously in 
the leading whig papers of Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York and 
Boston. Its appearance in those papers gave the author the first notice 
that suspicion of crime had ever rested on him. He at once demanded 
an investigation ; but such was the feeling of the House, then under 
democratic rule, that the members would not grant a committee to 
examine the case. But one of the Assistant Postmaster Generals, being 
a Whig, sent to the House a reiteration of the charge, to which the 
author promptly responded, declaring the Assistant Postmaster General 
guilty of falsehood and a violation of official duty : and pledged him- 
self to show those facts if the House would grant a committee. This 



DECLINE OF SLAVERY. 339 

could not well be refused. A slaveholding Speaker selected men in no 
respect friendly to the author, either personally or politically. They 
met, and the first witness examined was the Assistant Postmaster Gene- 
ral who had reiterated the charges : But after a cross-examination he 
asked the committee to place on their journal the fact that he then with- 
drew all imputation against the author. To this the accused responded, 
saying that the charge had been made and could not be recalled : He 
therefore desired to disprove every circumstance alleged. To this propo- 
sition the committee consented, sent to Ohio and Boston for witnesses, 
and having taken the testimony, reported the charges to have been made 
without any foundation in truth ; and the slander which was intended to 
destroy the reputation of an individual recoiled with great effect upon 
the party whose interest it was intended to subserve. 

Finding that the popular feeling was aroused agaiust the slave trade, 
which was carried on with much activity in the City of Washington, the 
Senate passed a bill entitled "A bill to abolish the slave trade in the 
District of Colombia." But although this was its title, it merely pro- 
hibited the bringing of slaves from the surrounding country to that city 
for market. It also authorized the Common Council of Washington to 
abate as a public nuisance any slave-pen or house kept as a market for 

pes ; but left the slaves of the city liable to purchase and sale as they 
had been previously to the passage of the act. The House at once 
passed the bill as it came from the Senate. 

The passage of this bill was a still further yielding to the demands of 
the people of the free States, and was viewed by the Mends of liberty 
as an important indication of further success. 

With the passage of this bill ; with the admission of California as a 
member of our common sisterhood of States, as well as by the passage 
of the Fugitive Slave act and the grant of ten million dollars to Texas, 
the first session of the thirty-first Congress may well be regarded as 
holding a prominent place on the page of our political history. As the 
slave power passed its culminating point and began its descent to obli- 
vion, its corruption was developed more vividly to the public view ; 
And as its power began to decline, it was able to call to its aid the 
mercenary propensity of northern men, and thereby perpetrate crimes 
which slaveholding influence could not alone have effected. 



340 CEIME8 PEEPETEATED UNDEE TUE FUGITIVE ACT. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE WORKINGS OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT. 



-. 



lfi501 The vacation of Congress afforded the President and members 

of that body an opportunity to witness the operations of the 
fua'itive slave act. The first victim under that barbarous enactment 
proved to be a free man of Philadelphia, sent by the commissioners, at 
public expense, as a slave to Maryland. In this respect it nfay be said 
to have met the designs and expectations of its friends. But when he 
reached the plantation from which it was alleged he had escaped, no one 
recognized him, even the supposed master declared he had never seen 
him, and he was permitted to return to his home and to freedom at his 
own expense. 

A husband and wife escaped from Georgia, and after much toil and 
constant danger reached Boston. The master pursued them and at- 
tempted to arrest them ; but the husband manfully defended himself and 
wife ; drove off the master, who could find no one to sympathize with or 
to aid him ; and he returned to his own State, published a narrative of 
his adventure and complained of the inefficiency of the fugitive slave 
act. 

In the autumn of that year ten slaves escaped from Maryland, and 
while in the mountains of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, were dis- 
covered and fired upon by those pursuing them. Three were killed, 
the others captured and taken back to servitude ; but no attempt was 
made to arrest or punish the murderers.* 

These crimes, perpetrated under color of the fugitive act, led to 
the belief that Congress had extended those barbarous laws of the slave 
States, which authorize the master or his agent to shoot escaping slaves, 
into the free States, and greatly contributed to increase the odium which 
already rested upon it. 

In Chester County, Pennsylvania, a deputy marshal, with legal pro- 
cess, broke into the dwelling of a citizen in order to arrest a slave who 
was sleeping in the chamber. But the owner of the dwelling and his 
wife assailed the marshal with weapons and occupied his attention while 
the slave escaped through a window. 

* This statement is made upon the authority of newspapers published in that part of Penusjl- 
**nia, and was afterwards confirmed by members of Congress from that State. 



THE PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES THE COUNTRY. 341 

While these circumstances convinced the friends of liberty that the 
fugitive slave act was arousing the public mind to the horrors of that 
institution, and was therefore exerting an influence which must eventually 
eradicate slavery from the American soil, President Fillmore appeared 
to view them quite differently. 

On the reassembling of Congress, in his annual message he referred to 
the fugitive act and the corrupt assumption of Texas debts approviugly ; 
spoke of them as concession and compromises necessary to allay the asper- 
ities and animosities whieh he alleged were rapidly alienating one section 
of the country from another. In his comments he made no distinction 
between right and wrong, between freedom and slavery, or between virtue 
and crime.* But in this he followed the example of those who were more 
i . ed in public life. Moral principle was at that period entirely 

excluded from political action : and the philosophy which then pie- 
vailed in our Federal Government taught that crime and corruption 
were necessary to maintain every form of government. But the ad- 
vocates of justice appeared more conscious of their moral power 
than at any former period. California had been admitted to the 
Union as a free State, and now stood an enduring monument of their 
fidelity and political prowess. The fugitive slave act had proven 
more bar! nan they had expected, and now threatened to over- 

whelm with disgrace those who had lent their influence for its enactment. 

It should be borne in mind, that while the President in obedience to 
the demands of the slave power was doing all he could, assisted by his 
Cabinet and by large majorities in both Houses of Congress, to induce 
the people of the free States to capture and send back to servitude the 
fleeing bondmen of the South, the people of that region continued to 
seize and enslave the colored citizens of the free States who happened 
to travel in the South without protection. And whenever a northern 
ship entered a southern port with colored sailors on board, they were 
seized and imprisoned until the vessel sailed, when the captain or any 
friend might appear and pay charges and the imprisoned sailor would 
be permitted to go on board his vessel and depart ; but if neither the 
captain nor any friend of the sailor paid such charges, he was sold into 
slavery. 

The people of Massachusetts, generally active in good works, were 
anxious to prevent the enslavement of free blacks, and sent one of her 
most respected attorneys to Charleston, South Carolina, to institute 
judicial proceedings in order to«test the constitutionality of those southern 
laws ; but he was driven from the city and from the State by mob 
violence with the approval of its authorities. 



342 FUNDAMENTAL D0CTKINE3 ASSEKTED. 

This outrage upon the dignity and constitutional rights of Massachu- 
setts had the effect to stir up a more intense detestation of the fugitive 
slave act, to which Mr. Webster and the President, and the supporters 
of slavery, had attached their political fortunes. 

These circumstances developed more and more distinctly the great 
permeating issue between the " submissionists " and the philosophic 
reformers, who maintained that, to eujoy the light of the sun, to breathe 
the air of heaven, to drink the waters of earth, to obtain food, procure 
raiment and habitation, were natural rights pertaining to every human 
soul while innocent, conferred by the Creator, and ever to be held sacred 

FROM INVASION, BY INDIVIDUALS AND BY GOVERNMENTS. That these rights 

were held at the will of God, which constituted a " higher law" than 
human enactments or human constitutions : that the violation of this 
law of heaven constituted crime, whether it were done by individuals or 
by men holding office, or acting as legislators, professing to authorize its 
commission. 

The submissionists denied these fundamental doctrines, sneered at those 
who held them, aud expressed their contempt for men who defined the 
legitimate boundaries of human governments, as " higher law men-" but 
were careful never to argue the question nor to reason upon it- 
Southern members, however, taunted the Administration aud its friends, 
asserting that the " higher law" men controlled the sentiment of Massa- 
chusetts to such an extent that the fugitive slave act could not be enforced 
in Boston. The idea that an act of Congress, however despotic and bar- 
barous, could not be enforced among the law abiding people of that city, 
so distinguished for its obedience to law, appeared to arouse the pride of 
every friend of the Administration. An approved catchpoll was sent 
to Boston for the purpose of enforcing this flagitious enactment, in the 
presence of that Christian people. 

A fugitive named Shadrach was discovered, and the regular warrant 
for his arrest procured, and placed in the hands of the officer. In open 
day, in the presence of the people in the city of Boston, a Christian was 
captured, pinioned, and led away, as was then supposed to interminable 
slavery. The people looked on and sighed and wept at seeing a fellow- 
being, whose soul like their own was clustering with immortal hopes, 
thus led to the sacrifice. 

The Legislature of Massachusetts by statute ' had forbidden the im- 
prisonment of fugitive slaves in their jails, and the marshal conducted 
his victim to the United States court-house, the only sanctuary for such 
crimes. The commissioner being unable to attend the proper examina- 
tion that day, the fugitive was placed in custody of three or four 



AN IMPORTANT SLAVE CASE. 343 

assistant cute!. polls, who were directed to hold him in custody until the 
next day. 

That was a night of sadness and sorrow to the philanthropists and 
patriots of Boston. Their fathers had led in the great Revolution of 
1776, and ninny had di«d to establish the doctrine that all men hoW 
from the " Creator an inalienable right to life and liberty." Yet 
after the lapse of m venty-five years, they were compelled to witness 
a scene of barbarism, which no patriot of the Revolution ever con- 
templati d. 

Bat a few colored men of that city, actuated by that, law of our 
nature which never fails to call forth sympathy fur the oppressed, 
gathered around that court-house, entered its chamber, bade the minions 
Of alavery to stand aside, released Shadrach, and placed him in a 
carriage, which rapidly hurried him toward a land of liberty. 

i of this escape reached Washington by telegraph. The 

friends of freedom were delighted. They viewed the whole thing as 
a ludicrous exhibition of the folly of attempting to enforce crime by 
Oongressiofia] enactment. But the effect on the President and Cabinet, 
and the advocates of submission to southern dictation, was quite dif- 
ferent. They exhibited a degree of vexation, of consternation and moral 
cowardice, which excited laughter among their opponents. The Presi- 
dent called his Cabinet together for consultation, and the Executive of 
thirty million people, with hi> constitutional advisers, sat in grave delibe- 
ration upon the best means of averting the evils arising from the escape 
of a friendless negro. 

But Mr. Webster had staked his hopes for the Presidency upon the 
favor of the slave power. He was now the ruling member of the Ad- 
ministration, and had no other course left than to carry out his plan, 
by enforcing the enactment which he had advocated. The President 
and the other members of his Cabinet had considered the act and 
approved it, when it first passed Congress ; the President had again 
indorsed it in his annual message, and they now regarded the success 
of the Administration dependent upon the popularity of this enactment, 
which was rapidly becoming detested by the people. 

The result of this deliberation was a proclamation by the President, 
calling on the good people of the United States to be active and vigi- 
lant in enforcing the laws, and a general order from the Secretary of 
War, addressed to the officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of 
the United States, to be present at then- posts «of duty, and ready to aid 
the civil authorities in enforcing the law: And the Secretary of the Navy 
issued a similar order, addressed to that arm of our national defence. 



344 THE NATIONAL BURLESQUE CONTESTED. 

The proclamation and general orders were published in the papers of 
the following day. 

Nor did this national farce end here. The further proceedings in 
relation to the escape of this friendless negro exhibits the feeling and 
policy of the Administration more clearly than any other facts which can 
be placed upon the page of history. 

The President and Mr. Webster, and Mr. Corwin, of the Cabinet, had 
been Whigs during their whole lives. The President had been elected 
as a Whig, and Messrs. Webster and Corwin held seats in the 
Senate as Whigs, when aspirants to cabinet offices. They were sup- 
posed to represent the whig party, which was by them fully committed 
to the support of the fugitive act, and they felt it was very desirable 
that the Whigs, as a body, should sustain it. 

Mr. Clay, now far advanced in life, was still a member of the Senate, 
and moved a resolution calling on the President for information whether 
resistance to the laws was manifested in any part of the United States. 
2d. The means adopted to suppress such i*esistance. 3d. Whether 
there be or be not defects in the existing laws for the capture and return 
of fugitive slaves ? 

Mr. Clay treated the subject as a matter of grave importance, and 
Messrs. Davis and Foote, of Mississippi, sustained the views of Mr. Clay. 

Mr. Hale reminded Senators that there was but a single step from the 
sublime to the ridiculous, and declared his conviction that the Senate 
was about to take that step. But the resolutions were adopted by an 
almost unanimous vote. 

On the 21st February, the President replied to the resolutions in a 
message of some length, declaring that nothing could have been more 
unexpected to him than the escape of the negro : nor had he supposed 
the people of Boston would set the laws of the United States at defi- 
ance. He characterized the escape of Shadrach as " flagitious," and 
assured the Senate that in his opinion, had the people anticipated such 
resistance of the laws, thousands would have put forth their best 
endeavors to prevent it. In the whole message there was no indica- 
tion that the President doubted the moral duty of Shadrach to sur- 
render his manhood, return to bondage, and doom his offspring to chains 
and sighs, and tears and bitter suffering : He spoke of the escape of 
Shadrach as "deplorable;" regretted that Massachusetts had prohibited 
the use of her jails for the imprisonment of fugitive slaves, declaring the 
negroes who assisted Shadrach to escape were guilty of " insurrection;" 
and transmitted copies of his proclamation and general orders, with his 
message, to the Senate. 



MTJ. CHASE MEETS THE QUESTION. 345 

To carry out this solemn burlesque, Mr. Clay moved the reference of 
the message and documents to the Committee on the Judiciary, with in- 
structions to report icilh all convenient dispatch, such further legislation as 
they might deem necessary for the faithful execution of the fugitive 
law.* 

Mr. JJale declared his entire satisfaction with the whole procedure. 
Said the President was evidently rendering his administration ridiculous: 
. That nothing could have contributed to that purpose more than his pro- 
clamation : That the President's attempt to vindicate the fugitive act 
must, in the nature of things, prove abortive. 

These remarks called out Mr. Clay, who, with some feeling, declared 
that the abolitionists throughout the country were stimulating the ne- 
groes to defend themselves frhen pursued by their masters. f He declared 
they wcr- stimulated to slay, murder, and kill their pursuers, who were 
endeavoring to persuade them back to their duty and to the service 
of their masters : He declared they were urged to this by speeches in 
the Senate and in the House of Representatives : He asserted that 
the proclamation aimed to put down all who sought to put down the 
law. 

It was a matter of astonishment to the reformers of that day, that 
Mr. Clay and oilier statesmen ignored those familiar principles which 
publicists and philosophers had constantly asserted for the last century, 
that " enactments against the natural rights of man to life and liberty 
are void, do not possess the elements of law, and in no proper use of lan- 
guage can be called laws :" Yet that distinguished statesman spoke of 
the fugitive act as law, although its entire object was to deprive the flee- 
ing bondsmen of liberty, and therefore not only void, but barbarous, des- 
potic, and criminal. 

Mr. Mason, of Virginia, though a most unmitigated advocate of 
slavery, took a more rational view of the subject, declaring it were in 
vain to attempt the execution of the fugitive act where the people were 
as much opposed to it as they were in Boston. 

Mr. Chase, of Ohio, referred to the construction of the Constitution, 
given by those who framed it, denying all power in Congress to legislate 
upon the subject of fugitive slaves, and insisting that that power was ex- 
pressly reserved to the several States : That in accordance with that 
construction several of the States passed laws to carry out the compact. 

* The committee, finding the suljeet had become a matter of ridicule among the people, suffered 
the message to rest in silence, and made no report on the subject. 

t Mr. Clay evidently did not believe that the first dictate of nature's law and of nature's God, 
" self defence," belonged to the negro. He probably aUuded to a case in Ohio, where the fugitive 
slew his master and then made 1.1s escape. 



34:6 THE EXISTENCE OF A HIGHER LAW DENIED. 

That the present difficulties were the legitimate sequence of the despotic 
law. 

Messrs. Butler and Rhett, of South Carolina, admitted the construc- 
tion contended for by Mr. Chase to have been the views of those who 
framed the Constitution. 

Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, denied that there was any law higher than 
the Constitution ; said there never would be four members of the Senate 
who would assert the existence of a " higher law :" But did not explain' 
the law or the motive power by which the planets performed their revo- 
lntions around the sun ; nor the law of gravitation, of electricity, of ve- 
getation, or the laws of life, of the circulation of the blood, or that by 
which all men in all ages are inspired with a love of life and of liberty : 
nor did he pretend that human life and human affections existed by vir 
tue of the Federal Constitution or Federal laws. 

Mr. Cass, of Michigan, read from a newspaper a resolution adopted 
at a meeting in Weymouth, Massachusetts, declaring it a duty which 
slaves owe to themselves, to posterity, and to God, to escope whenever 
an opportunity should be presented ; and the aged Senator declared that 
a more atrocious sentiment never disgraced any public meeting. 

The absence of all regard for moral principle, of that manly indepen- 
dence which usually characterizes the statesman ; of that self-respect 
which constrains the acknowledgment of the right of others to speak 
and think according to their own judgment, distinguished the debate to 
which we have called attention. 

The hostility manifested towards those who maintained the right 
of all men to life and liberty, was general among both political par- 
ties. It constituted one of the principal modes of conciliating southern 
favor. 

While Congress was in session, a woman, the mother of six children, 
all of whom were born in Pennsylvania, where she was lawfully married 
and had lived twenty-two years, together with her husband, were seized, 
brought before Commissioner Ingraham, of Philadelphia, and returned 
to bondage in Maryland. 

Four colored persons, who had been liberated by their former master 
in Western Virginia, were residing in Portsmouth, Ohio, when they were 
kidnapped, carried across the river, sold South, and probably died in 
bondage. 

From official reports it was estimated that thirty thousand fugitive 
slaves, resident in the free States, were now frightened from their homes 
and from the comforts of life, and subjected to hardships, privation, and 
suffering. Some fled to Canada, others left their all and went to distant 



FUGITIVE ACT DENOUNCED. 347 

parts of the free States, unwilling to forsake the government which per- 
secuted them. 

But the barbarism of slavery knows no bounds. Claims were sent 
from slave States by men who never owned a slave, describing some 
colored person who resided at a particular point. The slave-catcher 
would take with him men who, for the purpose of sharing in the spoils, 
would swear to the identity of the victim, and servile commissioners were 
ready to consign the prisoner to bondage on such proofs, receiving 
ten dollars fee under the law if the prisoner were remanded as a slave, 
while if they found the prisoner to be a free man, and discharged him, 
they would obtain but half that amount. 

From all parts of the free States memorials were sent to Congress, 
characterizing the enactment as " revolting to the moral sense of Ike civil' 
ized world ," as "barbarous " " a disgrace to the age," &c, and calling 
for ii I. It had been enacted under the plea that " it was neces- 

sary to save the Union," but it excited a feeling of hostility to the slave 
power in exact degree as it involved the people of the free States in the 
crimes and barbarities of slavery. 

The incidents which we are relating cannot fail to impress the reader 
with a consciousness of that infatuation which appeared to seize upon 
the strongest minds from long and constant habits of thought. Mr. 
Clay had been one of the commissioners who subscribed the treaty of 
Ghent, pledging the British and American Governments to the entire 
abolition of the " traffic in slaves." He had during his whole life sus- 
1 the institution in our own country, and by his efforts Missouri 
had been admitted as a slave State thirty years previously : Yet during 
the present session he denounced every mau who agitated the question 
of slavery : But uow, as the thirty-first Congress was drawing to a 
close, he presented to the Senate resolutions directing the Committee on 
Commerce " to inquire as to the propriety of further legislation to pre- 
vent the prostitution of the American flag to the protection of the Afri- 
can slave trade." Thus, while denouncing those who exposed the 
coastwise slave trade, the inter-State slave trade, the selling and buying 
and transferring slaves from one plantation to another, this distinguished 
Statesman was himself anxious to put down the same practices upon the 
African coast. He was apparently unconscious that the foreign slave 
trade, the coastwise slave trade, the inter-State slave trade, the buying 
and selling slaves from one plantation to another, the holding, punish- 
torturing and murdering of slaves constituted an inseparable net- 
work of crime and guilt which could not be morally severed. The 
subject occupied the attention of the Senate at times during the 



348 A POLITICAL CONSPIRACY. 

remainder of the session, without any definite action upon the resolu- 
tions. 

Nor did the slaveholders of that day appear to regard their own action 
in behalf of slavery as liable to criticism. Thus, while every southern 
member was in the daily practice of denouncing their northern friends 
for agitating questions touching slavery, Mr. Atchison, from Missouri, 
presented the petition of Margaret Drew, of that State, praying com- 
pensation for a slave lost while in the service of a quartermaster of the 
United States, at Leavenworth, in the territory west of Missouri. He 
declared himself opposed to any reference of the petition, saying but 
one question could arise, and that was, whether the quartermaster had 
used due diligence to prevent the slave from escaping. The Senator ap- 
peared to have no' conception of the uniform practice of the Government 
in discarding all consequences arising from the unauthorized acts of its 
agents ; nor did he appear conscious that by going into territory where 
no law of slavery existed, the slave became, ipso facto, free ; nor to have 
discovered that train of decisions by Cougress, in which that body had 
ever denied that slaves were properly. The Senate, however, more 
thoughtful than the mover, referred the petition to the Committee on 
Claims, where it yet rests in silence. 

As the thirty-first Congress was about to close, and members, on look- 
ing back, found that every effort to suppress the conscientious convictions 
of the people on the subject of slavery and the slave trade in the District 
of Columbia, in our Territories, and upon the high seas, and of the fugi- 
tive act, and the act giving Texas ten million dollars, had proven not 
only abortive, but had greatly intensified the feeling which previously 
existed, they determined to make one more effort to silence the popular 
voice, which appeared to be literally the voice of Ood finding utterance 
through the organs of humanity. Entertaining no doubt as to their 
power to control the moral and political sentiment of the country, 
they entered into a solemn compact with each other to support no man 
for public office who did not regard the measures adopted by Congress 
at its previous session as a final settlement of the slave question : or who 
should agitate the repeal of any of the measures alluded to.* 

* This compact was in the following words : "The undersigned, members of the thirty-first Con- 
gress of the United States, believing that a renewal of sectional controversy upon the subject of 
slavery would be both dangerous to the Union and destructive of its objects, and seeing no mods 
by which such controversy can be avoided, except by a-strict adherence to the settlement effected 
by the compromise acts passed at the last session of Congress — Do declare their intention to main- 
tain said settlement inviolate, and to resist all attempts to repeal or alter the acts aforesaid, unless 
by the general consent of the friends of those measures, and to remedy such evils, if any, as 
time and experience may develop. 

" And for the purpose of making this resolution effective, they further declare, that they will not 



HOSTILITY TO SLAVERY INTENSIFIED. 349 

These various efforts to draw the Hue of demarkatiou between the sup- 
porters of slavery and the advocates of liberty, could not fail greatly to 
diminish the influence of the former and increase the numbers of the lat- 
ter. But the leading statesmen of the South and their friends of the 
h felt that the safety of the principal political organizations, and of 
the nation, depended on maintaining and confirming every act of Con- 
gress in favor of slavery, and holding it up as a precedent to be followed 
in all subsequent time. The oligarchs now r held slavery to be a perma- 
nent, enduring institution, and that all laws enacted for its support must 
of necessity be sacredly preserved from modification and repeal : while 
the Pree-soilers of that day declared their policy to be the repeal of all 
Congressional enactments in favor of slavery, leaving the institution en- 
tirely with the States in which it existed: while no State which preferred 
freedom should be involved in the support of slavery. 

Bupport for President, or for Vice-President of the United States, or for Senator or Representative 
t^ress, or member of a State Legislature, any man of whatever party who is not known to be 
d to the disturbance of the settlement aforesaid, and to the renewal in any form of agitation 
upon the subject of slavery." 

(Signed) — Henry Clay, Howell Cobb, Charles S. Morehead, nenry S. Foote, W r m. C Dawson, 
Thos. J. Rusk, A. H. Stephens, Jereraiah Clemens, Robt. Toombs, Meredith P. Gentry, Thos. G. 
! v, i ,. U Gwinn, F. E. McLean, A. G. Watkins, David Outlaw, Alexander Evans, C. 11. Wil- 

liams, F. S. Haywood, A. U. Shepherd, David Breck, James L. Johnson, D. A. Bookee, J. B. Thomp- 
son, L. M. Andrews, W. P. Mangum, John B. Kerr, Jeremiah Moreton, J. P. Caldwell, R. J. Bowie, 
Edmund Deberry, E. C Cabell, Humphrey Marshall, Alex. F. Owen, from slave States. 

From New York— William Duer, Robert L. Rose, J. Phillips Phoenix, George R. Andrews, James 
Brooks, A. M. Bi hi rmerhorn. 

From Pennsylvania — James Cooper. From Massachusetts — Samuel Elliot. From Ohio— John 
G. Thurman. From New Hampshire — Henry Hibbard. 



350 ME. BOYD, OF KENTUCKY, ELECTED SPEAKER. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

ATTEMPTS TO ENFORCE THE COMPROMISE MEASURES — DEATH OF MR. CLAY — 

KOSSUTH VISITS WASHINGTON POLITICAL PARTIES PLEDGE THEMSELVES 

TO STOP ALL AGITATION. 

The thirty-second Congress was composed of men differing in 
thought and opinions respecting slavery. The whig and demo- 
cratic parties appeared impressed with the conviction that final disrup- 
tion awaited them ; that they could only be held together for a time by 
the most strenuous efforts of their members. Thus, on the day of assem- 
bling, when the Clerk had called the members to order, Mr. Campbell, 
of Ohio, proceeded to nominate as the whig candidate for Speaker, 
Thaddcus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, for whom the Free-soilers would 
have gladly voted at the previous Congress, and his election would have 
been secured could the Whigs have been induced to vote for him. 

Mr. Jones, of Tennessee, nominated Mr. Boyd, of Kentucky, declar- 
ing that he did not make the nomination merely because that gentle- 
man had been nominated by a democratic caucus, but because he was a 
Union man. 

Mr. Brooks, of New York, said the Whigs had that morning held a 
caucus, and resolved to maintain the compromise measures as a finality. 
And a long debate now arose between the whig and democratic parties 
as to which was the most zealous supporters of the Union, which 
was understood to mean the most zealous supporters of slavery ; 
southern Democrats endeavoring to show that northern Whigs were 
opposed to slavery, and southern Whigs endeavoring to show that 
northern Democrats were unfaithful to that institution. This debate 
was irregular, as the House was unorganized ; and Mr. Giddings, 
being a Free-soiler, took occasion to remind gentlemen that they 
would have ample time to show each other's crimes after a Speaker 
should be elected ; and said he was greatly surprised to see gentlemen 
pledged to silence all agitation, engage in debating the slave question 
before a vote for Speaker was allowed to be taken. He hoped the 
country would notice that the House had been precipitated into this 
debate by Whigs and Democrats, and not by the friends of liberty. 

The House then proceeded to ballot for Speaker, and Mr. Boyd, of 
Kentucky, was elected on the first ballot. 



Mississippi prepares for secession. 351 

On the following morning, Mr. Footo, of Mississippi, presented to the 
Senate a resolution declaring that the fugitive slave act, the act establish- 
ing territorial governments in Utah and New Mexico, and the act admit- 
ting California to the Union, were in the judgment of the Senate, to be 
regardi itive adjustment of the distracting questions growing 

out of, and touching domestic slavery. 

When the resolution came up for debate, Mr. Foote made a long 
speech to -how that the several acts referred to ought to be regarded 
u- a anal -■ ttlement of the slave question, and thai all discussion of the 
Bnbjecl 3hould be suppressed. This discussion of the propriety of dis- 
enssion attracted much attention. Those who witnessed it were amused 
at its ludicrous character. Southern statesmen for years had introduced 
subjects r lati ig to -lavcry, but when northern members resisted such 
tin s they were at once charged with " agitating the slave question." 

Mr. F • declared that the people of his State, in solemn convention, 
had approved those acts of Congress, and pledged the State to stand 
by them ; and he then read a resolution adopted by said convention 
d srted " right of a State to secede from the Federal 

Union was utterly unsanctioned by the Constitution." He then read fur- 
ther ' declaring, 

1st. That any interference by Congress with slavery iu the States, or 

2d, With the alave trade between the State-, or 

3d. With slavery in the District of Columbia, or in other places 
within the jurisdiction of Congress, or 

4th. The refusal by Congress to admit new slave States to the Union, or 

5th. Tic repeal of the fugitive slave act, or 

6th. The prohibition of slavery in the Territories, would furnish suffi- 
cient can-' for resistance on the part of the slave States.* Mr. Foote 
also appealed very solemnly to the democratic party to stand by Missis- 
sippi and the slave States in maintaining the compromise measures of 
the previous Congress. Messrs. Butler and Rhett, of South Carolina, 
and Mr. Mason, of Virginia, joined in debating the propriety of debate. 

These Senators had long before that time assured the public, that all 
agitation would cease soon, as the measures alluded to should pass Con- 
gress ; and nmv those political prophets were active and loud in their 
argument- endeavoring to convince the world that they had correctly 
foretold the precise effects of their own measures. This unenviable 
position of the slave power and its democratic friends could not fail to 



* This movement in Mississippi was intended as the first step on the part of that State towards 
secession, which was, ten years subsequently, carried into effect. 



/ 



352 EXPEDITION AGAINST CUBA. 

provoke facetious remarks. Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, held up 
the mirror before them, exhibiting their inconsistency. 

This expose called out reply, and the resolutions continued to be dis- 
cussed at intervals for more than two months, when members appeared to 
realize the singular position which they occupied, in debating measures 
that had been disposed of during the previous year, and the resolutions 
were suddenly laid aside and no more called up. 

18 _ 21 Amidst all the difficulties which now surrounded the slave 

power, a policy was adopted by the friends of the institution for 
obtaining Cuba, in order that it might be divided into slave States, and 
being annexed to our Government, would give the slave interest a con- 
trolling inflaence. 

The projectors of this unauthorized expedition against Cuba have not 
been exposed. That it was being fitted out was known to the British, 
French, and Spanish governments, long before it sailed from the 
United States. The Spanish Government was well aware of it and 
gave notice to ours of the intended raid upon Cuba. The Presi- 
dent issued his proclamation, calling upon all well-disposed citizens to 
enforce the laws against all such unlawful expeditions ; but no general 
orders from the Secretary of War or of the Navy were sent as was done 
in the case of the fugitive Shadrach. 

But no law of the United States against the interests of slavery could 
be enforced at that day within the slave States. The expedition was 
commanded by a Spaniard named Lopez, and the whole number of 
troops embarked did not exceed four or five hundred. They landed 
near Cardenas, and after some little time were all captured, and Lopez 
and some fifty others were tried, condemned, and executed. The others 
were sent to Spain, and eventually, on application of our Government, 
were given up and brought to the United States at the public expense. 
The appropriation of money for this purpose by Congress, gave rise 
to discussion which may be said to have been unpleasant to southern 
members. 

Mr. Clay had now become well stricken in years, and those who 
conversed with him at the commencement of the session were impressed 
that his earthly labors were drawing to a close. He had long served 
his country in official life, and had mingled in all the debates of the 
Senate on the subject of slavery while a member of that body. He 
had also been active in that respect while a member of the House of 
Representatives. He was a man of dignified deportment, bland and 
genial in his manner, amiable in his temper. Possessing great expe- 
rience, he of course wielded great influence in the Government. That 



DEATH OF MR. CLAY. 353 

influence had been far greater in the North than that of Mr Calhoun, 
and was probably more efficient in favor of slavery than that wielded 
by any other man ; but his eventful life drew to a close. He died at 
the National Hotel, in the -city of Washington, on the 27th day of 
January, 1852.* 

But while Calhoun and Clay were departing to their reward, Chase 
and Seward entered upon senatorial duties, and uniting with Hale 
and Sumner, boldly proclaimed that freedom and the free States were 
entitled to a hearing before the Senate and before the world. 

That law of the human intellect which prompts us to love liberty, 
constrains us to approve and admire its defenders. Louis Kossuth, 
the distinguished Hungarian, after maintaining to the utmost of his 
power, the rights of his people against Austrian despotism, fled and 
took refuge under the Turkish Government; and was invited by the Pre- 
sident of the United States, to visit our American lo.nd. 

On the first day of the present session, Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, 
offered in the Senate, a joint resolution to appoint a committee of 
the two nouses to make arrangements for a suitable reception of 
the exiled Governor. Other slaveholding Senators appeared emulous 
of doing honor to this noble defender of human liberty, apparently 
unconscious that in honoring him they were stimulating American 
advocates of liberty to follow his example, in the support of those 
rights which pertain to the human race in all countries and in all 
times. But when Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, paid a glowing 
tribute to the patriotism, philanthrophy, and justice of the noble stranger, 
slaveholders began to falter. They had, however, gone too far to re- 
cede, and the resolution passed the Senate, and was sent to the House 
of Representatives. 

It was obvious to reflecting men, that to encourage liberty in Hungary 
was in effect to approve its advocates in the United States. All felt 
that Austrian despotism was mild when compared with that of our 
southern States. Yet the measure had become popular, and although a 
few members of the House of Representatives opposed the adoption of 

* After Mr. Clay was confined to his room the author visited him. He was sitting in an easy- 
chair, able to converse in a low tone of voice ; but was evidently passing away under the slow 
progress of consumption. He alluded at once to the former friendship that had existed between 
them, the kindness and fidelity with which the author had supported him when a candidate for the 
Presidency, and to the coldness which had grown up in consequence of slavery. Said he had no 
doubt that his own feelings had been too strong. The writer responded in the same language, and 
assured him that he could retain no feelings other than of kindness under the circumstances 
in which they then found themselves. Mr. Clay said he had no unkind feelings towards any one. 
After full explanations and mutual assurances of kindness, the conversation turned upon the 
future, on which his thoughts appeared to dwell. 

23 



854 NO ONE WILLING TO DISCUSS SECESSION. 

the resolution, it passed that body. Kossuth was publicly received 
with imposing ceremony, adding influence and strength to the advo- 
cates of freedom : While the supporters of slavery soon viewed the 
whole proceeding with sadness, apparently fearing that the rising spirit 
of liberty would at no distant day wipe out the stain of oppression 
from our American land.* 

The doctrine of secession had been but little discussed at the 
time of which we are writing. Mr. Calhoun had avowed it in the 
Senate. Messrs. Pickens, Rhett, and some others, had spoken favorably 
of it in the House of Representatives ; but those men had disappeared 
from the halls of legislation, and no man was fouud in either House pos- 
sessing sufficient moral courage to publicly avow it : Yet it was dis- 
cussed in southern papers, and Mr. Gorman, a Democrat, of Indiana, 
took occasion to denounce the doctrine as monstrous in. principle and 
destructive in practice. Although some members were supposed to enter- 
tain secession views ; yet no one appeared willing to reply to these 
denunciations. 

There were few subjects of general interest involving slavery discussed 
at the first session of the thirty-second Congress ; but the Legislature of 
Iowa being democratic, and desirous of expressing the allegiance of her 
people to slavery, adopted resolutions laudatory of the fugitive act. 
Senator Jones, on presenting them to the Senate, referred to the act as 
wise, just, and in all respects proper. This provoked renewed discussion 
of the subject. 

Senator Miller, of New Jersey, also presented similar resolutions from 
the Legislature of his State, and spoke in favor of the wisdom which 
prompted the enactment of this statute ; and it is somewhat remarkable 
that every subject involving the character of slavery which came before 
Congress during this session was introduced by the friends of that insti- 
tution. 

Mr. Jackson, of Georgia, presented to the House of Representa- 
tives resolutions declaring the compromise measures of the thirty-first 

* During this debate Hon. James Brooks, of New York, said he would vote for the resolution, 
although it was ill advised. He charged the author with encouraging its passage because it was 
popular ; and the public reception of Kossuth would give an impetus to the anti-slavery cause. 

The author replied that he had never constituted the member from New York the exponent of his 
views ; that it was true he greatly respected that public sentiment which would at no distant day 
consign the gentleman from New York and all supporters of slavery to the " charnel-house of 
2?olitical forget fuln eas ." 

The prophecy appeared to have proven true. For some ten years Mr. Brooks adhered to the 
whig party while it existed, then joined the " Know-Nothings," but remained in private life until 
the voluntary disbandment of the Republican organization of New York, in 1SG1. Mr. Brooks 
then joining with the Democrats, was elected to Congress. 



watson'b claim renewed. 355 

Congress, iucluding the fugitive slave act, to be just, constitutional, and 
obligatory upon all the States and upon the citizens of each State. 

It again became evident that the friends of those measures were ill at 
ease as to the influence they were exerting upon the northern conscience • 
they were therefore anxious to re-argue their propriety, hoping to reason 
the northern mind into the justice of seizing innocent men and women 
while fleeing from oppression, and sending them back to bondage. 

Both whig and democratic parties appeared anxious to avow their 
allegiance to the fugitive act and the Texas bill ; but the friends of 
freedom, assured from history, from experience, and observation, that 
the course pursued by those parties would lead to their own destruction, 
were content to sit in silence with folded arms, and witness this process 
of political suicide. 

The feeling now so prevalent among the pro-slavery parties was 
regarded as favorable to the re-presentation of the important claim 
of J. C. Watson, for the loss of slaves whom he had purchased of cer- 
tain chiefs of the Creek tribe of Indians, in 1837. As stated in a 
former chapter, in 1836 General Jessup employed two battalions of 
Creek Indians to aid our troops in the Florida war, agreeing to give 
them ten thousand dollars and all the plunder they might capture. In 
doing this, General Jessup acted without law and without authority, as 
all soldiers were enlisted under well-defined regulations, receiving certain 



tragrs. 



In the course of the campaign they captured about one hundred 
colored persons, mostly women and children. The Indians had no pro- 
visions for feeding them, and by order of the commanding officer, 
(General Jessup), they were turned over to the United States, and 
eight thousand dollars paid the Indians for them. This, too, was un- 
authorized ; but the negroes were sent west and Watson called on Con- 
gress to pay him for the loss of those free persons to whom he had no 
legal claim whatever, even under slaveholding laws. 

The absurdity of paying this slavedealer for the loss of human chat- 
tels, in which the people of the United States could have no pecuniary 
interest, was quite obvious ; but such was the obsequiousness of northern 
members that the bill giving Watson more than twenty thousand dollars 
passed both Houses of Congress, and the money was duly paid. Every 
member from the slave States voted in favor of the bill, and were assisted 
by Messrs. Appleton and Porter, of Maine ; Scudder, of Massachu- 
setts ; Hibbard, of New Hampshire ; Ingersoll, of Connecticut ; Brooks, 
Dean, Martin, Schermerhorn, Sutherland, and Walsh, of New York ; 
Price, of New Jersey ; Chandler, Florence, Kuhns, McNair, Robbins, 



356 ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES REPUDIATED. 

and Ross, of Pennsylvania ; Taylor, of Ohio ; Penninian and Stuart, of 
Michigan ; Parker, of Indiana ; Clark and Henn, of Iowa, and McCorcle, 
of California. The bill was discussed, and questions of slavery were 
fully debated ; but southern members, abandoning the doctrine that 
slaves were property, urged payment of the claim upon the principle 
that the action of the commanding officer in time of war was binding 
upon the Government, even when professing to sell free, men into slavery. 
The vote stood, Y5 for the bill, 53 against it ; and, after fifteen years of 
effort, Watson obtained indemnity for his loss of human chattels from 
the pockets of the people. 

The policy of the whig and democratic parties was well illustrated in 
their national conventions for nominating candidates for President and 
Vice-President. The democratic organization assembled at Baltimore 
in the month of May, and nominated Mr. Pierce, of New Hampshire, 
as their candidate, but asserted no primal truth, no moral principle, no 
political doctrine, as the basis of their organization ; on the contrary, 
they studiously avoided such avowal, but pledged themselves to resist all 
attempts in Congress to renew the agitation of the slavery question 
under whatever shape or color the attempt might be made. 

The Whigs held their convention in the same city in the week following, 
and nominated General Scott as their candidate. They also adopted 
a series of resolutions avoiding the assertion of any moral principle or 
essential doctrine ; but declaring that they would deprecate all agita- 
tion of the slave question, and pledging themselves to discountenance all 
efforts to continue or renew such agitation whenever, however, and wher- 
ever made. 

These two great parties, now standing before the country as oppo- 
nents, long contending with each other, and each demanding support of 
the people, presented to the w r orld a political phenomenon morally inex- 
plicable. They fully agreed with each other on the subject of slavery, 
nor did they disagree on any other subject. Each of these parties had 
in past time risen to power, not because of any principle which it advocated, 
but on account of the incompetence and corruption of the opposing organ- 
ization, and by aid of the malcontents among the party in power. And 
now they united in discarding from their ranks all who advocated the 
undying truths and immutable principles of human freedom. Each party 
sought to obtain the vote of the slave States. To do that, they were 
compelled to discard the very doctrines on which the Republic was 
founded. They pledged allegiance to a despotism a thousand times more 
barbarous than that for the overthrow of which their fathers contended, 
bled, and died. Men who were able to cast aside the prejudice of 



A POLITICAL ISSUE FORMED. 357 

party clearly understood, that the spirit of our Government and institu 
tions had already departed : That we merely retained the form of a 
republic ; and their hope rested on the confident belief that the people 
could be awakened to the support of the doctrines on which it had 
originally been founded. 

The Free-soilers, who had assumed that cognomen at Buffalo in 1848, 
now assembled at Pittsburg. It was an imposing convocation of men of 
moral and political character. Hon. Charles F.'Adams, and Senator 
Wilson, and many other good men and true from the old Bay State, 
together with others of like character from each of the free. States] 
assembled under a deep and solemn sense of the responsibility which 
rested on them, knowing the determined hostility of both the old parties 
which they were to encounter. They put forth probably the most, per- 
fect platform of political faith which had then been enunciated since the 
Declaration of Independence. They pledged themselves fully to the 
support of liberty wherever the constitutional jurisdiction of the Federal 
Government was exclusive, leaving the slave States to support or abolish 
slavery at the pleasure of their people. They nominated Hon. John P. 
Hale as their candidate for President, and Hon. George W. Julian for 
Vice-President, and entered upon the contest with a high moral prestige. 
Intending to succeed eventually by the force of truth and justice, they 
entertained no expectation of electing their candidates in that particular 
contest. They assumed the name of Free Democrats, and entered upon 
the work before them with a spirit and energy worthy of commendation. 



35 S THE WHIG PAKTY DISBANDED. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

RESULT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DEATH OF MR. WEBSTER CLAIM OF 

WILLIAM HAZZARD WIGG. 

1852 , During the vacation of the thirty-second Congress the Presi- 

dential election was determined as most reflecting men had 
foreseen. The course pursued by the whig party on the election of 
Speaker at the commencement of the thirty-first Congress had impressed 
leading politicians with the conviction that it had surrendered its own 
existence at the dictation of the slave power. They had succeeded in 
electing their President in 1848, without the enunciation of any essential 
principle ; but soon as they came into power and the offices had been 
distributed, there was no longer any rallying point or principle 
to which the President, or any member of the Cabinet, or party, 
was in honor bound ; and the people soon discovered that they 
had gained nothing by the change of administrations. The subsequent 
refusal to take a candidate for Speaker who was in favor of the consti- 
tutional right of petition seemed to have forbidden all hope of their 
further success ; but relying upon the military fame of their candidate, 
they entered upon the contest with some show of force. When the 
votes were counted, however, the whig candidate was found in such a 
meagre minority that the party voluntarily disbanded and henceforth 
ceased to exist. 

The death of Mr. Webster in the autumn of 1852, while holding the 
office of Secretary of State, constituted an incident interesting and im- 
portant. He had disappointed the advocates of liberty by his speech in 
the Senate, and by his subsequent exertions to placate the slave power 
and win their influence to his support. Finding the people of the 
free States hostile to the fugitive act, on which he had been willing 
to stake his prospects, he then threw himself entirely upon the slave 
power for support. His anxiety under these circumstances became 
oppressive, and was noticed by those who were familiar with him. 

But at the nominating convention no vote was cast for him. The 
slave power had obtained from him all the assistance which its advocates 
expected. His election would not increase the safety or prosperity of 
the institution. And members of Congress who met him on the morning 
after the nomination, were struck with the saduess which marked every 



MR. WEBSTER S DEATH. 



'- ~ "— 359 



lineament of his countenance. It was evident that ambition no longer 
stimulated him to action. The blow was fatal. That mighty intellect which 
had commanded the admiration of Europeans as well as Americans, was 
evidently falling a sacrifice to disappointed ambition. He lived scarcely 
six months from the time of his disappointment, and evidently died of a 
broken heart. He may be said literally to have fallen with the party 
which he had so long supported. 

At the reassembling of Congress those members who had belonged 
to the whig parry were in an anomalous position. They had de- 
nounced both Democrats and Free-soilers, and now felt that pride of 
opinion which would not permit them to act with either. 

The Free Democracy, however, satisfied with their prospects, [1S5S> 
were willing to permit others to introduce subjects of debate. 
A bill was brought before the House of Representatives, for appro- 
priating money to bring from Spain the unfortunate members of the 
Cuban expedition under Lopez, mentioned in the previous chapter. As 
that expedition had been fitted out for the purpose of extending and 
Strengthening the slave power, it excited debate, during which leading 
southern members declared then* intention to obtain Cuba for that 

purpose. 

During this session the author served as a member of the Commit- 
tee on Territories, who reported a bill to organize a government in 
Nebraska. When this bill came up for debate in Committee of the 
whole House, Hon. John W. Howe, of Pennsylvania, publicly called on 
the author t*b inquire why there was no prohibition of slavery in it? 
Mr. G 'Hidings replied that, by the eighth section of the act admitting 
Missouri, shivery and involuntary servitude had been distinctly prohibited 
in all the territory ceded by France to the United States, in what was 
called the " Louisiana purchase," north of 36 deg. 30 min. north latitude : 
That being excluded, no additional legislation was necessary on the sub- 
ject, and he, Mr. Giddings, had voted for the bill as it then stood. 
Mr. Howe declared himself satisfied. This incident showed that the lovers 
of liberty were willing that the subject of slavery in that territory 
should rest, without further disturbance. The bill passed the House 
without debate, and was transmitted to the Senate. That body were 
unwilling to permit Kansas to be organized as a free territory, and 
retained the bill without any action upon it. 

Late on the last night of the session a motion was made to suspend 
the rules of the House, in order to take up and consider a bill from the 
Senate for the relief of " William Hazzard Wigg," who was said to 
have lost about a hundred slaves during the revolutionary war. He was 



360 EXTRAORDINARY CLAIM." 

a resident of South' Carolina, and the slaves were said to have been 
carried away by the British. The reader will recollect the efforts put 
forth by President Washington, to obtain compensation for the thousands 
of slaves carried away during that war, and the final surrender of all 
these claims, as related in a former chapter. 

Thousands of northern citizens had been ruined during that war, their 
property taken by the enemy, their dwellings burned, their families 
left destitute, but Congress had ever refused compensation. But here 
was a case where men and women were assisted to gain their liberty, 
and the grasp of the oppressor had been loosened by British power, and 
the people of the free States were to contribute their substance to com- 
pensate the descendants of Wigg for the loss of slaves who had regained 
their liberty more than seventy years previously. The bill had passed 
the Senate without objection, although, on a motion to amend, Messrs. 
Brodhead, of Pennsylvania ; Clark and James, of Rhode Island ; Dodge, 
of Wisconsin ; Miller, of New Jersey ; Weller, of California, and Wade, 
of Ohio, voted for perfecting <tke bill ; but, as no one opposed it, these 
Senators, with all others present, must have approved its passage. 

When it reached the House of Representatives, the author, under- 
standing its character, foresaw that an effort would be made to take 
it up on the last night of the session, and in the hurry of business 
to pass it. To prevent this he went among northern members, stating 
the character of the bill and foretelling the effort to pass it on the last 
night of the session, when it could not be debated or its character made 
known to the House. 

As predicted, at 1 1 o'clock of the last night of the session, Mr. Col- 
cock, a Democrat of South Carolina, moved to take up this bill. 

Mr. Skelton, of New Jersey, a Democrat : "I object. The bill 
ought not to be passed ; it introduces" — (Cries of " Order, order !" 
from slaveholding members.) 

Mr. Duncan, Whig, of Massachusetts : "I object, and wish to state 
the reasons for my objection." (Cries of " Order ! order ! ") 

Mr. Colcock : "I move to suspend the rules, in order to take up 
this bill." 

Mr. Walsh, Democrat, of New York : "I hope that bill will be 
taken up and passed." 

Mr. Allison, of Pennsylvania, Whig, demanded the yeas and nays on 
suspending the rules and laying aside all other business, to take up and 
pass this bill. They were ordered, and all the slaveholders voted in the 
affirmative, together with Messrs. Appleton and Porter, of Maine ; Fay 
and Gooderich, of Massachusetts ; Briggs, Brooks, Conger, Dean, Hart, 



JUSTICE INSULTED. 361 

Hawes, Russel, Scherrnerhorn, Sutherland and Walsh, of New York ; 
Bibighaus, Chandler, Curtiss, Dimmock, Florence, Fuller, Gamble, 
Jones, Kuhns, Kurtz, Moore, McLanahan, Morrison, Parker, Robbins 
and Ross, of Pennsylvania ; Marshall and McCockle, of California ; 
Ingersoll, of Connecticut ; Stratton and "Wildrich, of New Jersey ; 
Carter, Disney, Edgerton, Olds, Gaylord, Greene and Taylor, of Ohio ; 
Dunham, Fitch, Gorman, Lockhart and Mace, of Indiana ; Campbell 
and Richardson, of Illinois ; Clark and Hcnn, of Iowa. These men 
from the free States assisted in suspending the rules of the House and 
all other business, in order to pass this bill, which, in every possible 
aspect, was most insulting to our northern laborers, from whom the 
money was principally drawn ; but no debate was allowed, nor were the 
opponents of the bill able to obtain one-fifth of the members of the 
House to vote for the yeas and nays on its passage. The effrontery of 
southern men, in demanding compensation for the loss of these slaves, 
was more than equalled by the base servility of those northern members 
who sustained this fraud upon the public treasury. But these surrenders 
of northern honor and northern interest were all justified and vindicated 
by the usual argument that " it was necessary to save the Union ;" while, 
in fact, they really made southern men believe their favor, their smiles 
and approbation necessary to preserve the Government ; and to regard 
northern members as incapable of the exercise of the higher virtues of 
patriotism and justice. 



362 THE DEMOCRATIC FAETY EN POWEB. 



CHAPTER XXY. 

CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT PIERCE THE " AMISTAD " CLAIM REPEAL OF THE 

MISSOURI COMPROMISE THE INAUGURATION OF CIVIL WAR ATTEMPT OF THE 

EXECUTIVE TO EXCITE A WAR WITH SPAIN BLOODSHED IN BOSTON 

RESISTING THE FUGITIVE ACT HUMILIATION OF SENATOR CASS FIDELITY 

OF HIS STATE COMPENSATION FOR LOSS OF SLAVES ON BOARD THE 

" CREOLE," THE " ENTERPRISE" AND " HERMORA," PAID BY GREAT BRITAIN. 

lg5g , The thirty-third Congress convened under peculiar circumstances. 
The democratic party were in power. They held the Executive 
offices and a majority of both Houses of Congress, and controlled the 
Legislatures of nearly all of the thirty-one States which then constituted 
the Union. For many years the members of both whig and democratic 
parties had charged the advocates of liberty with agitating the " slave 
question." The repetition of this assertion had become chronic with 
those parties. Whenever the slave power introduced any subject of 
legislation involving the interest of the institution, and the adherents 
of freedom resisted it, the charge of " agitation " was iterated and 
reiterated : and it was never repeated and asserted with greater em- 
phasis, than when they opposed the annr xation of Texas, the Mexican 
war, the establishment of slavery in California, the giving Texas ten 
millions of dollars, and the passage of the fugitive act. 

Eree-soilers having felt that these outrages upon the rights and inter- 
ests of the free States were arousing the indignation of all thinking men, 
had during the last Congress refused generally to enter into debate 
touching the institution. 

This quietude was unsatisfactory to the slave power. Ambitious men 
were uhable to attract public attention on other subjects ; but all 
could manifest allegiance to slavery, which was usually regarded as 
the only mode for obtaining popularity. Nor were any members more 
anxious for debating the slave question than those who at the close of 
the thirty-first Congress had signed a written pledge, binding them- 
selves not to support any man for President or Vice-President who did 
not regard the compromise measures as a final settlement of the slave 
question. 

Mr. Pierce, the Democratic President, in his first annual mes- 
sage, recommended that Congress should appropriate money to compen- 



CIIAEACTER OF PEESIDENT PIEECE. 363 

sate the owners of the slaves who on board the Spanish schooner 
" Amistad " had by their own prowess won their right to liberty. 

The case was fully stated in a former chapter. Having been first 
recommended by President Polk, and reported upon by the° Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, the writer had met it, and exposed it in a short 
speech, when the motion to print the report was abandoned even by the 
mover. The claim was again brought to the attention of the House by 
an amendment of the Senate to the civil and diplomatic appropriation 
bill, and that amendment was promptly defeated in the House. But 
the case was important, as it involved the right of slaves to obtain their 
liberty by slaying their oppressors. It involved the life-giving doctrines 
of the Government. But the life of liberty, is the death of slavery : 
and the position of the Supreme Court, and the repeated decisions of the 
House of Representatives, if sustained, must prove the destruction of 
the "peculiar institution." The first step towards a reversal of those 
decisions, was necessarily taken by the highest authority of the Govern- 
ment : and Mr. Pierce, from education, from habits of thought, from 
political affinity, was the proper man to take it. Few statesmen 
of that period were more devoted to the party which elevated them. 
In no way distinguished for the powers of his intellect, he was kind 
and gentlemanly in his deportment, and pleasing in his address. 
Unconscious of the philosophy of governments, he studied thoroughly 
the policy of his party, and was unfaltering in his devotion to the 
interest of slavery. Under these circumstances, he really believed 
that Congress held the same legitimate power to legislate in favor of 
slavery that it possessed to act in favor of freedom. He was sincere 
in the opinion that colored men were in duty bound to become slaves, 
to remain slaves at the will of the white race, and that it was 
a moral crime for a black man to obtain his liberty by the display 
of that virtue called heroism : and he strongly urged Congress to grant 
from the public treasury full indemnity to the Spanish slavedealers for 
loosing their piratical grasp upon their fellow-men. 

This recommendation of the President came under debate in 
the House of Representatives on the usual motion to refer the 
message to the appropriate committees. The writer, then the only 
member of the House whose public life had been contemporaneous with 
this claim, now for the third time met it with more than usual confidence, 
repeating the positions which on the two former occasions he had 
endeavored to maintain, and representing the President's position on 
the subject in no enviable light. But to his main points he invoked the 
attention of the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr. 



364: THE "AMISTAD SLAVES AGAIN. 

Bayly, of Virginia, regarded as one of the ablest of the southern delega- 
tion : and so pointed was the writer on this branch of his remarks, that 
Mr. Bayly at once said that he would reply at the first opportunity, 
and would show the justice of this claim. After the lapse of some two 
weeks, the writer publicly called attention of the House to the promise 
of the chairman of the committee, and complained that he had failed to 
vindicate the President's views. The chairman excused himself, saying 
he had not yet prepared such a vindication as he desired, but would do 
so at no distant day. After another month's delay, Mr. Giddings again 
complained to the House that the chairman of the committee had suf- 
fered the President's views to be assailed on the important measure of 
paying for the " Amistad " slaves, without vindicating them. To this Mr. 
Bayly listened, but made no response, nor did the committee to whom 
this part of the message was referred ever respond to the propo- 
sition, and the claim again appeared to be set at rest. But demo- 
cratic members and democratic presses denounced Mr. Giddings for 
" agitating the question of slavery" on debating the President's mes- 
sage, and declared that the Union could not continue if such agitation 
were permitted. 

But a question of far more pervading interest awaited debate. 
As stated iu the last chapter, a bill organizing a territorial govern- 
ment in Nebraska had been reported to the House of Represen- 
tatives, and having passed that body was sent to the Senate. It was 
silent as to slavery, and had therefore occasioned no debate. 
185g , But as the vast territory west and north of Missouri was now 

ready for the establishment of territorial governments, prepara- 
tory to admission as States, aud as this whole country had been declared 
forever free by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, southern men viewed 
the addition of more free States from that part of our country as fixing 
the boundaries of slavery, which must inevitably result in the total 
extirpation of the institution. They had endeavored to avoid this result 
by the annexation of Texas, and obtaining California : But the sceptre 
of power had already departed from the slave States. California was 
free, and it was clearly seen that the addition of free States from the 
northwest would reduce the slave power to a subordinate position 
in the Government, which it had controlled for more than half a 
century. 

Early in the session, Senator Dodge, of Iowa, introduced a bill in the 
Senate on leave, organizing a territorial government in Nebraska. But 
it is believed tljat neither that Senator nor his confreres were conscious 
of that vast tumultuous sea of agitation on which they were about to 



THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL. 365 

launch the democratic bark. The bill was referred to the Committee 
on Territories, of which Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, was chairman. He 
was a man of some experience, having served in the House of Represen- 
tatives several years, where he failed to exhibit any extraordinary powers 
of intellect. He was however a ready debater. His language was ap- 
propriate, but his arguments were more diffuse than logical, more plau- 
sible than profound. His great error was that which was common to 
the age ill which he lived. He constantly lent influence to whatever he 
supposed would subserve the interest of himself or party, rather than to 
maintain enduring truth and unerring justice. It is believed that in his 
v. hole public life he never admitted the existence of a higher law than 
human enactments, or of a power superior to human governments, or of 
interests more important than those of the democratic party. 

Mr. Atchison, of Missouri, was acting as Vice-President of the United 
States, and feeling a deep interest on this question, proposed to Mr. Doug- 
las to report a bill authorizing the people of Nebraska to form a terri- 
torial government without excluding slavery, or he, Atchison, would 
resign his position as Vice-President, and take that of chairman of the 
Committee on Territories in which Mr. Douglas had served several 
years. Mr. Douglas, alter reflection, preferred to report the bill himself. 
These facts were afterwards publicly stated by those gentlemen in the 
Senate, and Mr. Douglas accordingly reported the bill, accompanied by 
au elaborate report, endeavoring to show that the people of a ter- 

iry have the moral right to establish slavery or freedom as they 
may deem most for their own interest ; but he had not in language 
provided for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The 
Senate ordered five thousand copies of the report to be printed for distri- 
bution. 

Mr. Dixon, of Tennessee, gave notice that when the bill should [1554 
come up for consideration he would offer an amendment expressly 
repealing the 8th section of the act admitting Missouri, which prohibits 
slavery in all the Louisiana purchase north of 36 deg. 30 min. north latitude. 
Mr. Douglas moved a recommitment of the bill, which was agreed to; and 
he subsequently reported a bill organizing two territorial governments, 
one for Kansas and the other for Nebraska, declaring the Missouri 
Compromise inoperative, and mamtaining the right of the people to estab- 
lish slavery. 

] t became obvious that a serious attempt to repeal the time-honored 
compromise was now to be made under the prestige of the democratic 
party : and those opposed to the extension of slavery felt the 
necessity of an earnest and persistent effort to prevent such an outrage 



366 ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 

upon the people of the free States and the rights of humanity. They 
prepared an address to the people of the United States. It was 
signed by Senators Chase, of Ohio : Sumner, of Massachusetts ; Hale, 
of New Hampshire ; Messrs. Gerrit Smith, of New York ; De Witt, 
of Massachusetts ; Giddings and Edward Wade, of the House. The 
subscribers said in the address, " We arraign this bill as a gross 
violation of a sacred pledge ; as a criminal betrayal of sacred rights ; 
as a part and parcel of an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccu- 
pied region emigrants from the old world and free laborers from our 
own States, and convert it into a dreary region inhabited by masters and 
slaves." This was the tone and spirit of the address. It invoked the 
attention of the Legislatures of the free States and called on the people 
to meet in primary assemblies and speak their opinions and wishes in re- 
gard to it. It invited ministers and all classes of people to examine the 
subject and express their opinions respecting it. It was published in 
most of the whig papers and in all those which sustained the free 
democracy of that day. The names of Senators Seward, of Xew 
York, and B. F. Wade, of Ohio, were also on the paper ; but those 
gentlemen preferred not to appear before the public in that way, 
and erased their names before publication. Several members of the 
House who had signed the paper, followed the example of the two 
Senators, and erased their names before the address appeared in 
public* 

The address was written with the intention of calling out an expres- 
sion of the popular mind on the subject. Mr. Douglas appeared to feel 
the blow ; and when the bill came before the Senate a few days subse- 
quently, he made a personal attack upon the signers, styling them au 
" abolition conclave acting in the dark and governed by feelings of per- 
sonal unkindness." His remarks were somewhat offensive in their char- 
acter. Mr. Chase, however, was present and replied to Mr. Douglas 
with such force as to give him clearly to understand that in carrying his 
bill through the Senate he would find argument necessary instead of epi- 

* There was much said at the time in regard to the authorship of this address. The facts are as 
follows : Mr. Edward Wade, of the House, was sitting in the author's room one evening, conversing 
upon the subject of Mr. Douglas' report. It was remarked that its result would be defeat to the 
democratic party. Mr. Chase, of the Senate, came in and joined in the conversation. It was agreed 
by these members that an address to the people ought to be published. Mr. Giddings, regardiug 
Mr. Chase as an accomplished scholar, proposed that he should pen the address. Mr. Chase sug- 
gested that if Mr. Giddings would put his thoughts on paper, he, Mr. Chase, would revise and cor- 
rect them. Mr. Giddings wrote out the address, and placed it in the hands of Mr. Chase, who cor- 
rected and rewrote it. It was then submitted to Mr. Smith, who also made some verbal correc- 
tions and submitted it to Mr. Sumner, who also examined and corrected it, and the paper* went to 
press precisely as Mr. Sumner left it and may now be found at length in " Congressional Globe," 
vol. xxiii., pages 281-2. 



PEOPLE DENOUNCE THE MEASURE. 367 

thets and declamation. Mr. Douglas replied, and instead of maintaining 
the doctrines or policy of his bill, reiterated his personal attacks upon 
the signers of the address. Mr. Sumner rejoined in language of elo- 
quent severity touching the objects and purposes of the bill, which he 
declared could not be described in language, saying it was " a soulless, 
eyeless monster, horrid, unshapely and vast." 

But the great issue of slavery or freedom in our Territories , 1854 
was now made up and entered upon the record. The leading 
members of the democratic party had expected it would prostrate the 
opponents of slavery: while the friends of Constitutional freedom ap- 
peared equally confident that it would result in the overthrow of the 
democratic party, and would eventually place the friends of liberty in 
j ession of the Government. The great prize to be lost or won was 
nothing more noi less than the primal rights of human nature. Through- 
out the country and in Congress men prepared for the conflict. In the 
Senate the debate became general and of absorbing interest, and 
instead of consolidating political parties, it soon became evident that it 
• ring political friends. Southern "Whigs now united with south- 
ern Democrats in favor of the bill, and northern Democrats united with 
Free-soilers in resisting this extension of slavery into territory which had 
thirty years previously been consecrated to freedom. The debate in the 
sailed out the able men of that body. Public meetings in the 
country were held and the people passed resolutions disapproving of the 
attiin ,ts to repeal the Missouri restriction. . The Legislatures of seve- 
ral States adopted resolutions denouncing such repeal. People sent 
petitions to both Houses of Congress remonstrating against this per- 
fidious violation of pledged faith. Three thousand and fifty minis- 
of various religious denominations in New England sent to Con- 
gress their solemn protest against the perpetration of this national crime 
of extending slavery into territory once made free by the voice of the 
nation. They protested against it as a great moral wrong, justly incur- 
ring the righteous judgment of the Almighty.* 

The presentation of this memorial may be said to constitute an era in 

* The following is a copy of this solemn protest : 

" We, the undersigned clergymen of different denominations in New England, hereby, in the name 
Of ALMIGUTY GOD and in HIS presence, do solemnly protest against the passage of what is gene- 
rally known as the Nebraska bill, or any repeal or modification of the existing prohibitions of slavery 
in that part of our national domain which it is proposed to organize into the territories of Nebraska 
and Kansas. 

" We protest against it as a great national-wrong, as a breach of faith eminently unjust to the 
moral principles of the community and subversive of all confidence in national engagements : a 
measure full of danger to the peace and even to the existence of our beloved Union, and ex- 
posing us to the righteous judgments of the Almighty." 



368 MORAL ASPECT OF THE CONTEST. 

the great moral and political revolution which was daily becoming more 
and more obvious. The protest of these clergymen served to call 
public attention to the one point so destructive of slavery, to wit, its 
crimes. Those ministers evidently hated slavery for its depravity ; 
and held to the fundamental truth, that the natural law, which 
they with perfect propriety usually call the will of God, had vouch- 
safed to every human soul the right to live, to gain intelligence, and pre- 
pare for heaven ; and this memorial was hailed by the lovers of justice 
as the harbinger of a corrected public sentiment. 

1854 , The memorial was presented by Senator Everett, of Massachu- 

setts, and having been read, Mr. Douglas appeared to feel keenly 
the advantage which this moral view of the question gave his opponents. 
He assailed the memorialists, declaring they had followed the suggestions 
of the address of the members of Congress ; denounced them as poli- 
tical preachers ; charged them with ignorance ; said the memorial was 
offensive and libellous, and asserted that the • signers ought to be rebuked 
and required to confine themselves to their proper vocation. 

Mr. Houston, of Texas, defended the memorialists, declaring the right 
of the clergy to speak their opinions frankly and fearlessly of public 
men and public measures, and expressed his own approbation of the 
memorial. 

Mr. Mason, of Virginia, assailed the memorialists, denying their right 
to approach Congress as professional men, or to pronounce judgment upon 
any proceeding of that body, and closed my moving that the memorial 
be not received. 

Mi*. Butler, of South Carolina, and Mr. Adams, of Mississippi, sus- 
tained the motion of Mr. Mason. 

Mr. Everett replied to these assaults upon the clergy. He was a 
learned man, and an accomplished speaker ; had served in early life in 
the House of Representatives, and more recently as minister at London. 
He defended the memorialists in kind and gentle language, which 
contrasted very distinctly with the violence of Mr. Mason and Mr. 
Douglas. 

Mr. Petit, of Indiana, next addressed the Senate. He was a man of 
more mental strength than mental culture. Long residence upon the 
frontier of civilization had rendered him somewhat regardless of that 
refinement of thought and of language which is always desirable in public 
men. Nor did the free expression of his thoughts, in the language most 
natural to him, appear to be restricted by respect for those around him, 
or for the body of which he was a member. 

Mr. Seward, of New York, closed the debate by a lucid statement of 



VOTE OF THE SENATE. 3(39 

facts and arguments, which apparently left no one in doubt as to the 
propriety of the memorial, and which he respectfully moved to lay upon 
the table, and the motion was agreed to. 

This debate illustrated the great advantage which the advocates 
of liberty and justice always wield over the supporters of slavery, by 
referring to the moral view of that institution. 

The bill was brought to final action in the Senate on "the 3d March, 
and was passed by a vote of 37 to 14, Messrs. Bell, of Tennessee, and 
Houston, of Texas, voting against it. All the other Senators from slave 
States voted for it, assisted by Messrs. Brodhead, of Pennsylvania ; 
Cass and Stuart, of Michigan ; Dodge and Jones, of Iowa ; Douglas, of 
Illinois ; Nonas, of New Hampshire ; Petit, of Indiana ; Thompson, 
of New Jersey ; Toucy, of Connecticut ; Weller and Gwin, of California. 

Before the bill was taken up in the House, a meeting of the 
democratic members was held in the Capitol. Some denounced 
the policy, and others declared their intention to leave the organization 
rather than participate in the proposed outrage. Some left the party, 
and never more acted with it ; but the slaveholders were inexorable, 
and most of the members were constrained to assist in the passage of 
the bill. 

"When the bill was taken from the Speaker's table, Mr. Cutting, a 
young member, a Democrat from the city of New York, moved its refer- 
ence to the Committee of the whole House. The motion prevailed, 
and it was expected at the time that it would defeat the bill. Mr. 
Cutting had been known to the public as an able lawyer, and a man of 
a high order of talents : But loud and deep were the curses heaped 
upon him by the slaveholders, who viewed his action as exciting an 
insurrection against southern influence. 

A few days after,. Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, spoke upon this 
subject, although the bill was not before the House for consideration 
He, too, was a young and talented member. He had been reared 
in a slaveholding community, and brought with him the " hauteur " 
of southern life. He spoke of Cutting's motion to refer the bill with 
some severity : declared that he had represented himself as a friend 
of the measure while he had done all in his power to kill the bill : 
that his course had been like throwing his arm around the neck, 
saying, " How is it with thee, my brother ?" while with the other hand 
he inflicted the fatal stab. 

Four days afterwards Mr. Cutting replied to this assault upon his 
motives by Mr. Breckinridge. Apparently unwilling to submit to the. 
supercilious bearing of his southern confrere, he declared that the 

24 



370 MORAL EFFORTS CONTINUED. 

Democrats of New York had contributed fifteen hundred dollars to be 
expended in efforts to procure the election of Breckinridge to Congress, 
Breckinridge explained, admitting the contribution, but insisting that it 
was the duty of every member to sustain the Senate's bill. Cutting 
rejoined, saying his opponent had skulked behind the Senate bill. 
Breckinridge asked him to withdraw the remark. Cutting refused, and 
Breckinridge pronounced it false. Cutting responded, that this was 
not the place to reply to such language.* 

This conflict between two able members, each representing a section 
of the democratic party, was regarded as somewhat ominous of the 
effect which this measure was to exert upon that organization. 

More than five hundred clergymen, mostly from Illinois, transmitted 
to the Senate a respectful remonstrance against the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise. A meeting of clergymen, held in the city 
of Chicago, where Mr. Douglas resided, adopted resolutions dis- 
approving his remarks upon the memorial sent to the Senate by 
more than three thousand clergymen of New England. These evi- 
dences of dissatisfaction at the great moral outrage about to be 
perpetrated, gave evident uneasiness to the advocates of the mea- 
sure. Mr. Douglas replied to the memorial of the western clergy 
with more severity than Christian forbearance ; and showed very 
distinctly that he regarded political duties in no way allied to moral 
obligation. 
,„,.., Nor were the clergy so distinct and lucid in their views as the 

1S54] OJ 

occasion seemed to demand. They spoke of slavery as a sm, a 
w rong in general terms, without referring to that consciousness of the 
right to life and liberty which the Creator breathes into every human 
soul, and which is the outworkiugs of His will and the evidence of his 
law. But the influence of the clergy, which had been inactive generally, 
and in some instances exerted for the benefit of slavery, was now 
exerted for freedom and justice. Sermons were preached demon- 
strating the criminal character of slavery. Many of these were printed 
and widely distributed, and much information was disseminated among 
the people on the. subject. 

But party discipline was used to counteract their efforts. The democratic 
organization had been in power at least four-fifths of the time since the 
election of Jefferson in 1800, and its members believed it always would 

* Rumor represented a challenge as being sent to Breckinridge the next day, and a duel was said 
to have been arranged; the matter, however, was in some way settled, but the terms of settlement 
were not published. At the close of that Congress, Mr. Cutting retired to private life, but Breckin- 
ridge remained until the rebellion, when he joined the rebels, and became a general in the Confe- 
derate service. 



VOTE OF THE HOUSE. 371 

control the Government, and they were unwilling to offend its leaders. 
. Adhering democratic members of the House, by frequent consultations, 
were finally prepared to act unitedly in favor of the Senate bill : and on 
the 9th May they proceeded by vote to lay aside every bill holding 
position on the calendar prior to that organizing governments in Kansas 
and Nebraska, and when that was reached, Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, 
offered the Senate bill as a substitute for that reported by the committee 
of the Bouse, ami the whole subject came legitimately before that body 
for final action. 

Tli.' proposition excited intense interest, and elicited the best talent 
of the II niiM'. Indeed, nearly every member gave utterance to his 
own virus. Tin' Leaders of the democratic party found that the subject 
had got beyond their control. They could not limit the debate, 
which appeared interminable, and recourse was had to legislative 
chicanery. 

Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, formerly a Whig but now acting with the 

mocratic party, moved to strike out the enacting clause of the bill ? 
The opponents of the measure, supposing that this motion if carried 
would defeal the bill, voted for it. The motion prevailed and the bill 
was reported to the House as thus amended ; the previous question was 

maided, ami tin' House was thus brought to a direct vote on its 

All members from the slave States voted for the bill, as did also 
M< ■! -. McDonald, of Maine ; [ngersoll,. of Connecticnt ; Henn, of 
[owa ; milliard, of New Hampshire ; Lilley and Vail, of New Jersey ; 
Clark and Stuart, of Michigan ; Latham and MeDougal, of California ; 
Disney, Greene, Olds, Shannon, and Taylor, of Ohio ; Davis, Dunham, 
English, Hendricks, Lane, and Miller, of Indiana ; Brooks, Cutting, 
Rose, Walbridgc, "Walker, Walsh, and Westbrook, of New York ; 
Bridges, Dawson, Eddy, Florence, Jones, Kurtz, McNair, Parker, 
Robbins, Wright, and Witte, of Pennsylvania. 

Thus forty members from the free States voted to repeal the Missouri 
restriction in order to extend slavery into Kansas,. and Nebraska. Of 
them it is behoved that only two, Mr. Brooks, of New York, and Tay- 
lor, of Ohio, claimed affinity with the whig party. The others had 
acted with the democratic organization. But it should be remarked 
that southern Whigs and Democrats uniformly acted together on all 
subjects involving the institution of slavery. 

The bill was returned to the Senate for concurrence in the amendments. 

On debating these amendments, the agitating question of slavery in 
all its bearings was again discussed ; but in time the amendments were 



372 POLITICAL PROPHESYING. 

agreed to and the bill was approved by the President, and became a 
law. 

1854 , This was literally a democratic measure, declared by its 

advocates to be " necessary to silence agitation and save the 
Union ;" while its opponents with unhesitating confidence maintained 
that it would increase agitation and constitute an important step to- 
wards the dissolution of the Union. Events have proven that it was an 
important incident in " the regime of slavery." 

The Senate presented an extraordinary spectacle on the morning when 
the President's message approving the bill was received. General Cass, 
a man of great experience, venerable for his age, arose and proclaimed 
to the country, that peace and harmony would now govern our public 
councils, that there would be no more agitation concerning slavery. This 
was doubtless the real opinion of the leading statesmen of the democratic 
party ; while the entire history of the Government showed that every 
act in obedience to slavery had served to increase its demands, and 
every step taken by the democratic or whig party to save the, Union con- 
stituted an important advance towards its dissolution. That the repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise was tending to a dissolution of the Union 
became evident soon after its passage. 

The people of Connecticut felt the severe blow which- civilization 
received from this extension of slavery. The Legislature of that State 
being in session, adopted resolutions deprecating the repeal, and declaring 
their intention of never consenting to the admission of a slave State 
from the territory. 

These resolutions were presented to the Senate, and soon as they were 
read, Mr. Cass, who but a few days previously had assured the country 
that there would be no more "agitation" on the subject of slavery, 
was the first member of the Senate to become agitated on hearing 
them read. He at once arose and in an audible voice and excited 
manner said, " I hope those resolutions when put into plain English 
do not mean another Hartford ConventionP 

This allusion to the convention held at 'Hartford in 1813, to devise 
measures to relieve the people of New England from the sufferings which 
the war had brought upon them, was supposed to have been intentionally 
offensive to the Representatives of that State ; and Mr. Smith replied, 
saying, the resolutions contained nothing to provoke the remarks of the 
Senator from Michigan, who would in due time learn that they not 
only spoke the sentiments of the people of Connecticut but of Michi- 
gan also. 



PREPARATIONS FOR CTVIL WAR. 373 

This prophecy of Mr. Smith called forth a reply from General Cass, 
in which he asserted the rightful powers of governments to establish 
slavery if their people choose, substantially denying that governments 
are formed to secure the enjoyment of liberty, in any greater decree than 
to secure the existence of slavery. 

Soon as this bill had received the Executive sanction, the democratic 
party prepared for the next step tending to the dissolution of the Union. 
A plan was adopted for invading the territory with an armed force, tak- 
ing possession of the ballot boxes on the day of election, in order to 
establish a slaveholding government. 

It is unknown to what extent members were involved in this plan for 
initiating that civil war which has since attracted the attention of the 
civilized world. Our statements rest upon well established incidents, 
explained by those who professed to be familiar with and were sup- 
posed to understand the plot. It was known at Washington that Vice- 
President Atchison left the Presidency of the Senate while that body 
continued in session ; that he went immediately to western Missouri, was 
active in instituting what were called "blue lodges," and in his public 
c« induct exhibited an intense anxiety to induce men to go to Kansas for 
the purpose of establishing a slaveholding government .there. His 
secret consultations before he left, and the persons with whom he 
consulted, are not so well understood. It was said, however, that the 
leaders of the democratic party were generally consulted and agreed 
that force and violence and civil war must be resorted to if neces- 
sary to establish slavery, and that arrangements were made for the 
slave States to send men and money to Kansas in order to carry out 
this plan. 

Nor were the advocates of free soil idle. The " Emigrant Aid 
Society " of New England w r as formed, and assistance was tendered to 
every man and family who wished to remove to that territory. Funds 
were raised, and emigrants w T ere on their way to that theatre of action 
soon after the adjournment of Congress. 

While public attention was' thus directed towards Kansas, some three 
or four thousand citizens of Massachusetts sent to the Senate a petition 
asking the repeal of the fugitive slave act. It was respectful in lan- 
guage and unexceptional in its tone and spirit. Senator Rockwell, 
who presented it, remarked upon the circumstances under which the fugi- 
tive act had been passed, and the feelings which it had excited. He 
also stated that the peace and quietude of the country demanded its 
repeal. 



I 



374 scmnek'and butler. 

1854 Mr. Jones, of Tennessee, who had once acted with the Whigs, 

appeared desirous of avowing his unqualified allegiance to slavery ; 
and somewhat arrogantly declared that all who opposed the fugitive act 
were opposed to the Constitution. Senator Sumner, hearing his people 
thus assailed, replied to Mr. Jones with great energy of thought and of 
language. He had regarded the fugitive slave act with abhorrence from 
its first introduction, and now felt all the stirring emotions necessary 'to 
arouse his intellectual powers. He hurled back the charge that those 
opposed to the fugitive act were opposed to the Constitution ; and with 
the force of obvious truth showed that those who voted for that act 
violated the Constitution, and the rights of human nature, and the civi- 
lization of the age. 

Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, interrupted him to inquire if he would 
arrest a fugitive slave ? Sumner turned partially around, and looking 
Butler full in the face with a scowl of contempt that was inimitable, 
and in a tone of voice and manner most withering, replied : " Is thy 
servant a dog that he should do this thing ?" He appeared to be 
moved from the deepest recesses of his moral nature, and speaking 
from the holiest impulses of the heart, he could not fail to impress 
those who heard him. Butler resumed his %eat, apparently regretting 
that he had propounded the insulting question ; intense silence per- 
vaded the Senate chamber, aud the whole scene was one not easily 
forgotten. 

The friends of freedom in Congress were also greatly encouraged by 
the presence, the aid, and assistance of Hon. Gerrit Smith, a repre- 
sentative from central New York, ne was a man of great wealth, and 
had long been distinguished as a leading philanthropist. . He had been 
well educated and was regarded as possessing a high order of talents. 
At his first advent to the House he led off in the debate upon that 
part of the President's message which related to the seizure of " Martin 
Costa "on board- an American vessel lying in a neutral port, showing 
himself well versed in international law. His whole energies were 
devoted to the cause of justice and liberty. 

The Administration having been brought into power by aid of 
slaveholding influence, appeared anxious to subserve the interest of the 
" peculiar institution." In the month of February a steamer called the 
" Black Hawk " cleared from Mobile for New York by way of Havana, 
and arriving at that port, was reported by the captain as in ballast, 
while she really had some five hundred bales of cotton on board that 
were not mentioned in her manifest. These facts - becoming known to the 
proper officers, the steamer was seized and held for trial. It was gene- 



EFFORTS TO CREATE A WAR WITH SPAIN. 375 

rally understood that the democratic party were anxious to obtain 
Cuba, though at that time no open avowal of the fact had been an- 
nounced ; yet it was supposed that the leaders of the party would 
gladly welcome a war with Spain in order to obtain that island. 

On the 10th March, Mr, Phillips, of Alabama, said he desired to pre- 
!utiou jipon a grave and important matter, involving the. in- 
terest of his constituents and the honor of the nation. He then pre- 
sented a resolution railing upon the President to communicate to the 
House such information as he might deem proper in relation to 
the seizure of the ship " Black Hawk," and the confiscation of her 
cargo. 

The resolution was adopted without objection, and a few days sub- 
sequently the President sent to the House full information on that sub- 
ject ; and said that "other acts of aggression upon our commerce had 
been perpetrated by her Catholic Majesty for which reparation had 
1"> a delayed in a very unreasonable manner. That the Cuban authori-. 
ties wire wanton in their aggressions, while Spain delayed or refused 
indemnity :" and referring to the situation of Cuba, her proximity to our 
coast, said, " it would be in vain to suppose that she could adopt a 
policy unfriendly to our commerce aud ' other interests,' without exciting 
the most intense feelings of our people ;" and closed by declaring that 
he should '' IV' 1 disposed to carry out any measures which Congress 
might Bee fit to adopt in relation to the matter." 

The message was clearly a recommendation of war, the object of 
which was to obtain 'Cuba. Its tone, and language, aud reference to 
other interests, meaning the interests of slavery, could leave no doubt as 
to the intention of the President. 

The message being read, Mr. Bayly, of Virginia, chairman of the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, expressed his admiration of the manner 
in which the subject had been treated, and moved its reference to the 
committee of which he was chairman. The motion was carried, and 
thus far all seemed to favor the objects of the slaveholders. 

The next morning the writer moved a reconsideration of the vote 
referring the message, and in a speech of an hour's length, exposed the 
designs of the President and party for getting up another' war for the 
extension of slavery, referred to the war with Mexico for that purpose, 
and the defeat of its objects in part, and assured the friends of the war 
now proposed that if Cuba was obtained, it would be made free before 
it would be admitted as a State to our Federal Union. Mr. Bayly 
replied, but denied none of the objects imputed to the President and his 
party ; yet this timely exposure, together with the existing difficulties in 



o 



76 NEGROES AND DEMOCRATS COMPARED.' 



regard to Kansas, probably prevented further efforts to produce a war 
with Spain, for the increase of the slave power.* 

1854.1 During this session northern servility was still further ex- 

hibited. The bill granting homesteads to actual settlers on the 
public lands was under consideration, when Mr. Wright, of Pennsyl- 
vania, moved an amendment limiting its benefits to the white people, and 
made a speech in favor of excluding blacks. 

A Free-soiler moved a modification of the amendment, permitting all 
persons "more than half white" to participate in the benefits of the 
law. The mover proceeded to deprecate the policy of excluding the 
descendants of Mr. Jefferson, and of Martha Washington, who were 
well known throughout the country to be more than half white, 
although held in bondage. He declared that he had no intention 
to interfere in the quarrel which was evidently going on between 
the democratic party and the negroes ; as to which possessed the 
best native talent : But it was well known that a few years before the 
House had been engaged in estimating the value of a black man who 
read and spoke four languages with facility ; and he doubted whether 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania was able to give such an exhibition of 
literature ; yet by this comparison of the two gentlemen he intended no 
offence to the negro. The burst of laughter which followed appeared to 
make a more serious impression upon slaveholding members than the 
most profound argument. They seemed to feel, for the first time, that 
they were likely to become the subjects of contempt. 

For years the advocates of slavery assailed fhe personal character 
of all who devoted their energies to the support of truth and justice. 
During the session of Congress now under consideration they invaded 
the sanctuary of the departed, and assailed the memory of Mr. Adams. 
His friends, however, met these attempts to disparage the character of 
the illustrious dead, and vindicated the fair fame of the " old man elo- 
quent," as may be seen by reference to the report of congressional 
debates in April, 1854. 

The fugitive slave act had now been in force three years, and was far 
more unpopular than when first enacted. Yet the friends of that measure 
were still desirous of enforcing it in Boston. A fugitive, named Sims, 
from Georgia, was arrested in that city and imprisoned in the Court- 
house, and a force of armed men were left to guard him. These men 
were generally of that base character, who, having stifled the natural 

* Jefferson Davis, at that time Secretary of War, in a public speech, while visiting Mississippi, 
stated that the President did everything incumbent on him to produce a war with Spain ; but de- 
clared that Congress did not sustain his efforts. 



A FUGITIVE SLAVE CASE. 377 

s)'tnpathics of the human soul, were anxious to maintain the influence of 
the political party to which they were attached by dooming a fellow- 
being to degrading bondage. A few friends of liberty felt that their 
city w;i i disgraced by a barbarism unsuited to the age, or to any 

Christian community, and anxious to maintain the reputation of their 
ancient commonwealth, collected together and proceeded to break the 
door of the Courthouse in which Sims was imprisoned. 

A deputy marshal, with his assistant slave-catchers who were in the 
noose, i who were endeavoring to enter. Shots were exchanged, 

and JbT instant there was the clash of arms ; but as one of the guard 
Oil, those who were outside, as if conscious of the responsibility which 
they incurred, fled amid the darkness of the night without being 
recognized. After they left it was found that one of the guard, named 
" Batchelder," had been struck by some sharp-pointed instrument ; the 
femoral arl 1 been pierced, and he died immediately. 

The feelings of the people were greatly excited. The man had fallen 
while assisting to rob his fellow-man of liberty, which all regarded as far 
dearer than life, aud no one doubted that he had received retributive 
justice at the hands of the assailants. 

The United States troops were at once called from the fortifi- , 1854 
cations aronnd Boston, and placed on guard. The Courthouse 
was sorronnded by chains. The victim was kept in an upper room, 
which co ! I i nly be approached through files of armed troops. A Com- 
missioner, named Loring, sat in judgment upon Sims' right to life and 
liberty. The fugitive was ably defended by Mr. Dana, one of the most 
distinguished lawyers of Boston. The trial lasted several days. It was, 
however, a mere formality. At length Loring, the Commissioner, decided 
that Sims did not hold his life and liberty at the will of the Creator, but 
at the will of his master, and a decree for his delivery was entered. 
Tho victim was taken to the wharf, surrounded by a strong guard of 
soldiers, who, by their bayonets, held the indignant people at bay. 
Having reached the wharf he was placed on board a steamer, which 
instantly left the shore, amid the tolling of bells; while the flags in the 
city and on board the ships in the harbor were raised at half-mast, as 
an evidence of sympathy fur a fellow-being who was thus consigned to a 
moral grave. 

The expense of sending this man to servitude was borne by the United 
States, and was estimated at $30,000, beside the life of Batchelder. 

The resistance which caused the death of Batchelder imparted to the 
transaction a serious importance. But the President now issued no 
proclamation, nor did the Secretary of War or of the Navy issue General 



378 EFFORTS TO PENSION A SLAVE-CATCHERS WIDOW. 

Orders, as had been done when Shadrach escaped. The victim had been 
secured and sent to slavery, while the transaction had awakened a 
resistance to the fugitive act that was deep and abiding in the hearts 
of the people. 

In the House of Representatives, Mr. Faulkner, of Virginia, chairman 
of the Committee on Military Affairs, moved to suspend the rules, in 
order to introduce a bill giving the widow of Batchelder a pension ; but 
Messrs. Dean, of New York, and Jones, of Tennessee, Democrats, 
objected ; while Mr. G iddings, of Ohio, was in favor of suspending the 
rules, provided the bill should be subjected to debate ; but the House 
refused to suspend the rules. Indeed, so timid were northern Democrats 
that very few of them voted with the slaveholders on that occasion.* 

In the Senate, however, the bill was referred, and Messrs. Clay, of 
Alabama ; "Williams, of New Hampshire, and Jones, of Iowa, reported 
it back to the Senate recommending its passage ; while Senators Sumner 
and Seward made an able report against it. The bill passed by a vote 
of 37 to 12, and was sent to the House for concurrence, but was never 
taken up in that body. 

The State of Rhode Island, through her Legislature, protested against 
the extension of slavery, urged upon Congress the propriety of granting 
to fugitives the right of trial by jury, and approved the course of those 
members of Congress who resisted the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise. These proceedings were transmitted to Congress and presented 
in the Senate. 

1S54 , At the reassembling of the thirty-third Congress, after the summer 
recess, it was believed that the subject of slavery would not disturb 
its deliberations, as the session would continue only ninety days. But an 
attempt to enlarge the powers of the Mayor and Aldermen of Washington 
City brought before Congress the barbarous practice of imprisoning 
freemen and selling them for the fees, and an animated debate arose 
upon it. 

Many petitions were also presented for the repeal of the fugitive slave 
act aud against permit tiug slavery to exist in any territory of the United 
States. 

But the progress of freedom was more strikingly evinced by resolu- 
tions adopted by the State of Michigan, declaring that slavery was a 
moral, social and political evil ; that its introduction into Kansas was 
violative of a solemn compact and of the Constitution, and was directly 
tending to a disruption of the Union. They asserted that the people of 

* Mr. Faulkner, at the time of recording these incidents (1868), was an adjutant general in tho 
Confederate army. 



MICniGAX REGENERATED. 379 

Michigan were opposed to the extension of slavery, in favor of its entire 
abolition in the District of Columbia aud of repealing the fugitive 
slave act. 

Michigan had from its organization been a democratic State, and 
Genera] (.'ass had ever been sustained as a faithful representative of their 
principli s. He had publicly declared that, when he ceased to represent 
their views, he would resign his seat in the Senate. He had voted for 
the fu-itive act and for the act admitting Kansas and Nebraska to 
i ablish Blavery in those territories. He had long been a leader in 
the democratic party, and at one time its candidate for the Presidency. 
]!•• had grown old in the public service, had to the utmost of his power 
opposed the progress of that reformation to which he was about to fall 
a victim. Be DOW Baw clearly the sentence of separation from those who 
had long stood by him and sustained him in public life, and as the aged 
lan, with more than usual solemnity, announced to the Senate 
and country the change of public opinion which was to consign him to 
private life, he exhibited much emotion, and the audience listened to him 
with interest and with sympathy.* 

His colleague, Mr. Stuart, a younger man, but a Democrat, who had 

tain'ed the slave power with fidelity, also spoke on the subject, 

acknowledging the change of opinion that had been wrought in his 

This conversion of a strongly democratic State, in direct oppo- ns55 

•;t to their Senators, their representatives and public men, was 

irded by the reformers with great pleasure. It appeared ominous 

of the approaching dissolution of that party ; for all men of all parties 

v. ions that, whenever the sceptre of power should depart from 

the slave States the democratic organization would disband. 

The Free-soilers, however, maintained the policy adopted by Mr. 
Adams, of adhering to the fundamental doctrines of our Govern- 
ment. Every speech, resolution and bill which they presented had 

* ■ neral Cass first went to Michigan in IS] 2, as a colonel commanding a regiment of twelve 

months' volunteers from Ohio, and the writer, at that time a boy of sixteen, served in the 

militia of that State. From the close of the war until the breaking out of the great rebellion in 

they were personally friendly, but very decidedly opposed in politics. On the breaking out 

of the rebellion General Cass abandoned the democratic organization, and when in 1S62 the author 

called on him at his residence in Detroit, they found themselves again in perfect political harmony 

i the Government was in danger, although separated during half a century of peace. 

t Michigan remained true to her principles. When in 1S61, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania 

voluntarily surrendered the republican organization, and abandoned the doctrines which had been 

limed in 1S56, for the purpose of uniting with a portion of the Democrats, Michigan refused 

to .v 'in in that political suicide, but contiuued firmly adhering to the doctrines which her people. 

i. And in 1863, when Ohio and New York were carried by the democratic party, Michigan 

maintained her integrity and retained her faithful Republicans in office. 



380 FURTHER CORRUPTIONS. 

direct reference to the doctrines proclaimed in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. They saw the people had been misled by public men, who 
taught them to believe it their duty to maintain slavery and the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia, upon the high seas and in our 
Territories, and that Congress had authority and was bound to legislate 
for the capture and return of fugitive slaves. In short, the whole theory 
of the Free-soilers consisted in acting honestly towards the people, 
towards themselves and their country : And they regarded the conver- 
sion of New Hampshire and Michigan as important fruits of their long 
and arduous labors. True, many of their own friends had fallen in the 
frequent personal assaults of the slave power, and their ranks appeared 
thinned at times, but they were soon filled again. 

But the arrogance of the slave power knew no bounds. Its advocates 
had proclaimed the compromise measures of 1850 to be a final settle- 
ment of the slave question, and many of its statesmen had pledged them- 
selves to sustain no man for office who should agitate the subject of 
slavery : Yet the men who thus deprecated agitation brought for- 
ward and maintained the repeal of the Missouri restriction, and now 
demanded that Congress should add three and a half millions of dol- 
lars to the bonus granted to Texas by the compromise which was 
said to be final. Speculators, stock-jobbers and lobby members became 
solicitous for a further donation to Texas. On this subject ladies were 
employed : wives of Congressmen put forth their smiles and bland- 
ishments to induce members to vote for this proposition, than which 
nothing could be more corrupt. But leading statesmen of the whig and 
democratic parties held that injustice and corruption were necessary to 
sustain the Union, and this bill soon became a law, and the people of 
the free States were again taxed to purchase the loyalty of Texan slave- 
holders and save a union with that State which had been purchased at 
an immense cost of blood and treasure 

Near the close of Mr. Fillmore's administration our Govern- 
ment entered into a convention with that of England for sub- 
mitting all disputed claims existing between the two Governments to 
arbitrators, and in case of their disagreement an umpire was to be 
selected. To them the claim of our Government for the loss of slaves 
on board the "Creole," the "Enterprise" and the " Hermora " was 
submitted. The two arbitrators disagreed, and the umpire, upon the 
authority of Mr. Webster and Mr. Calhoun, decided that the British 
Government was bound by the laws of nations to pay for the slaves lost 
on board those ships. Thus did the resolutions of Mr. Calhoun, for 
which Mr. Webster nor any northern Whig dared vote, in the short 



THE SLAVE TRADE 8UPP0RTED. 381 

space of twelve years become a part of the international law controlling 
the Governments of England and the United States. These two nations 
now united in sustaining a traffic in slaves which in.1814 they pledged 
&< to abolish. Thus did the British and American Governments 

yield to the slave interest ; and instead of executing justice upon the 
piratical slavedealers, actually paid them money as a compensation for 
their misfortnneB while speculating in the bodies of men and women • 
They united lo acknowledging the supremacy of the slave interest, and 
thus stimulated southern statesmen to regard the cotton-growing interest 
ot the buuth as the controlling element among civilized nations 



382 FORMATION OF THE "KNOW NOTHING PAKTY. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

state of political parties contest for speaker commencement of 

hostilities in kansas outrage upon the person of senator sum- 
ner formation of the republican party its principles — president 

pierce's last message — the slave trade repudiated. 

<OK _. The free-soil party was now rapidly increasing in numbers and 

influence. The whig organization had disbanded : Yet its leaders 
had too much pride of opinion to admit that the anti-slavery men were 
right in their policy or in their construction of the Constitution. Indeed, 
their prejudices were too strong to permit them to join any other exist- 
ing organization. They therefore instituted a new party called the 
"Know Nothings" or "American party." Their leading policy was 
the exclusion of foreigners from office. In fact, the real point at 
which they aimed was the election of themselves to office. It was a 
secret society, known to each other by signs, grips and pass-words. 
It increased rapidly in numbers, and in the autumn of 18^4 they elected ■ 
a large majority of officers in all of the free States. This success 
brought many to their ranks, and aspiring members appeared to think 
that the only road to political preferment lay through the nocturnal 
councils of this new party.* 

The effect of their success became apparent at the assembling of the 
thirty-fourth Congress. It had placed the democratic party in a very 
decided minority in the House of Representatives. 

The demoralization of the whig and democratic parties now stood 
acknowledged by the country. Their disruption was admitted to 
have risen from their devotion to slavery. While one of the 
instrumentalities for effecting their overthrow was the " American " or 
"Know Nothing" organization: And the Free-soilers or Republicans 
were placed in a- most critical position. Their difficulty arose from the 
determination of aspiring politicians to give all influence into the hands 
of the organization which had recently sprung up. 

Members of this new party were at the city of Washington some 
weeks before the assembling of Congress, making such political arrange- 
ments as they regarded necessary to secure the success for the " Know 

* Their lodges were said to be held in dark rooms and always in the night. 



MEETING OF CONFLICTING ELEMENTS. 383 

Nothings :" But all wore conscious that neither they nor the Free-soilers 
could succeed except by uniting with each other. 

On Thursday evening, before the comnfcncemeut of the session, notice 
given that a meeting of members would be held at the "repub- 
lican rooms, on Friday, at 10 o'clock a.m., for consultation." 

At this meeting only about twenty-five Republicans assembled. These 
mostly aew members, and appeared exceedingly timid. However, 
there were several " Know Nothings " present, who assured the meet- 
in-- that whatever the Free-soilers or Republicans might do the " Know 
Nothings " would nominate a Speaker at their lodge that evening or the 
next. To this it was replied that they could not expect a nomina- 
tion made i I lodge would be supported by those not admitted 
to participate in making it. 

When the Republicans collected at evening there were about forty 
promt, with a number of " Know Nothings," and a debate upon the 
comparative merits of the two organizations opposed to the common 
enemy was fairly opened and occupied that evening and most of the next 
day. But late in the day a resolution was introduced pledging the 
members to vote for any man on whom a majority of the members 
should unite, provided he stood pledged by his past life or present 
declarations so to arrange the committees of the House as to give 
respectful answers to petitions concerning slavery. This resolution was 
adopted by a unanimous vote of more thau seventy members. But 
the leading members of the " Know Nothings M did not appear at any 
of the caucuses* 

It was in this unorganized form that members opposed to the exten- 
sion of slavery met therr associates on Monday in the Hall of Repre- 
sentative-, to enter upon a contest unequalled in the previous history of 
our Government. 

The House consisted of two hundred and thirty-four members — two 
hundred and twenty-five of whom answered to their names at the first 
calling of the roll. 

The first business in order was the election of a Speaker : And the 
ballots being counted, it was found that William A. Richardson, the de- 
mocratic candidate, had 14 votes ; Lewis D. Campbell, of Ohio, the 
" Know Nothing " candidate, had 53 votes ; Humphrey Marshall, of Ken- 

* The resolution was drawn and Introduced by the author, and was in the following form :— 
" Resolved, That we will support no man for the office of Speaker who is not pledged to carry 
out the parliamentary law by giving to each proposed measure ordered by the House a majority of 
such special committee, and to organize the standing committees of the House by placing on each 
a majority of the friends of- freedom who shall be favorable to making reports on all petitions com- 
mitted to them." 



384 THE STKUGGLE CONTINUED. 

tucky, the southern Know Nothing candidate, 30 votes ; Nathaniel P. 
Banks, of Massachusetts, was supported by those Free-soilers or Republi- 
cans who refused to support any man placed in nomination by the Know 
Nothings ; and Hiram M. Fuller, of Pennsylvania, received the votes of 
11 members of the Know Nothing party who refused to support any 
other candidate. There wejre several other ballots cast during the day, 
with little change. The voting continued on the second, third, fourth 
and fifth days, without material change, except that Mr. Campbell's vote 
rose on one occasion as high as seventy-five. 

After the result of the twenty-third ballot was announced, Mr. Camp- 
bell withdrew his name from the list oj. candidates. 

On the withdrawal of Mr. Campbell, Mr. Banks' vote rose regularly 
until the 15 th December, when it reached 101. 

In this protracted contest Mr. Fuller, of Pennsylvania, was sustained 
by about seventeen northern Know Nothings, and Humphrey Marshall 
by an equal number of that order from the South. These gentlemen 
and their supporters frequently united, when their joint vote would rise 
to the number of thirty or forty. Other individuals, acting with the 
Republicans generally, manifested a strong disposition to defeat the can- 
didate for whom they were voting. 

The House continued to vote pretty steadily until the fifty-ninth bal- 
lot had been cast,- when Mr. Hickman, of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, 
who had steadily voted with the democratic party, offered a resolution 
declaring that after oue more ballot, the candidate having the lowest 
number of votes should be dropped at each voting until but two candi- 
dates remained, and the one having the highest number of votes should 
be declared elected. 

On this resolution a debate arose which continued for several days, 
with occasional interruptions for the purpose of taking a vote. 

Mr. Broome, of Philadelphia, proposed to refer the questions which 
separated the political parties to the Supreme Court. Little reply to 
this proposition was made, except by general laughter. 

On the 19th December, the ballot showed Mr. Banks to have 106, 
and Mr. Richardson 15. Messrs. Marshall and Fuller, with their adhe- 
rents, continuing to vote by themselves. 

During the debates the Republicans were constantly assailed, and as 
the writer was the oldest member of that party, he felt const rained to 
vindicate their cause. He assured the Democrats and " Know Nothings" 
that the Republicans 7nust soon come into power: And when once in power 
they would not permit southern members to dissolve the Union. This 
seemed to arouse much angry feeling. Mr. McMullen, of Virginia, re- 



FIEST PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF SECESSION. 385 

plied with much spirit, declaring that whenever a northern President should 
be elected the South would dissolve the Union. This is believed to be 
the first distinct enunciation in Congress that the Union was to be dis- 
solved upon the election of a northern President. Northern Democrats 
appeared mortified at the imprudence of Mr. McMullen. 

Mr. Banks, in a public speech made some two years previously in 
Maine, had said, that if we were to extend slavery or dissolve the Union, 
he would say, "Let the Union slide." This saying was now seized 
upon by Bouthern men as an insuperable objection to Mr. Banks' elec- 
tion : While, at the same time, Mr. Brooks, of South Carolina, assured 
the Bouse and the country that unless slavery were extended he desired 
to see the Union slide. 

Members appeared by common consent to enter upon a general debate, 
whirl, was suspended on the 24th so long as to take a ballot, which 
showed no substantial change in the parties. 

On the 27th, four ballots were taken with a similar result. 

The newspapers showed that some excitement existed in the country. 
The Conservatives were pained at seeing representatives from the free 
States so regardless of the Union as to resist the South with such per- 
tinacity. Northern Democrats and many " Know Nothings" insisted that 
the Union would be dissolved unless members consented to elect a Demo- 
crat who was known to sustain " southern interests ;" a term synony- 
mous with slavery. 

Bui the advocates of the Constitution replied, we will vote for no 
man who by his past life or present professions is not pledged to " sus- 
tain the constitutional right of petition :" They had laid down a rule 
without reference to parties or to individuals. It was so plain that no 
man dared deny its propriety : and they declared that " the constitu- 
tional rights of the States must and should be preserved whether the 
Union continued or not." This doctrine, so entirely at war r;ith the ruling 
motto of the old parties, had not been previously asserted j nor did the 
people appear to comprehend its importance. Indeed, many members 
of Congress drew no distinction between maintaining the Union of all 
the States, and maintaining the Constitution over so many States as 
were satisfied with the Constitution. 

But it now became evident that individuals calling themselves " Know 
Nothings," but acting with Republicans, were seeking the defeat of Mr. 
Banks. Thus, Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, who had received seventy-four 
votes for Speaker, presented a resolution declaring that Mr. Orr, of 
South Carolina, should assume the chair, and act as Speaker until such 
officer were regularly elected. Mr. Campbell was said to be in daily con- 

25 



386 THE PRESIDENT SENDS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. 

sultation with Mr. Marshall, of Kentucky, who was steadily endeavoring 
to defeat the election of Mr. Banks. He had been a Whig, and his avowed 
object was to unite all parties in order to defeat the Democrats ; but with- 
out pledging those who should defeat that party to any particular prin- 
ciple or definite policy.* But Mr. Campbell's proposition was rejected, 
and by presenting it he lost the confidence of most of the members who 
had previously voted for him. 

On the 28th December the balloting was resumed, and continued 
through that and the following day without material change of parties, 
and debate was again renewed. Southern members became grossly per- 
sonal in their remarks, constantly threatening to dissolve the Union un- 
less northern members ceased to press the subject of slavery upon the 
consideration of the people. Others attempted to ridicule northern mem- 
bers for attempting to organize the House in opposition to the demo- 
cratic party. , 

These supercilious -pretensions served to unite republican members 
more strongly, while it placed the supporters of Mr. Fuller and Mr. 
Marshall in no very enviable position. 

Mr. Pennington, of New Jersey, was also a candidate, and many excel- 
lent members desired to support him. They had voted for Mr. Banks a 
long time, and desired to bring Mr. Pennington forward as the candidate 
of the Republicans. But the more experienced members united in saying 
that any change of candidates would prove fatal, unless the man brought 
forward could receive the entire vote then being given to Mr. Banks. 
Others declared they would not change under any circumstances ; and 
the difficulty which the Republicans had to contend with consisted in 
harmonizing their party. That was only effected by adhering to the 
principles adopted at the commencement ; and asserting their object 
was not the success of any man or any party, but to maintain the Con- 
stitution. 

The President of the United States sent his annual message to the 
Senate on the 31st December, and his private secretary appeared at the 
entrance of the House of Representatives and announced that he had 
brought with him the annual message of the President, to be presented 
to that body. 

Aware that this was intended to exert an influence against the Repub- 
licans, the author at once objected to receiving it, as it was an attempt 
to introduce a new practice — for up to that time no President had ever 
presumed to thrust his message upon an unorganized body — and that it 

* At this time, 1863, Mr. Marsha!! is serving as a brigadier-general in the Confederate army, and 
Mr. Campbell is serving as a colonel in the army of the United States. 



PREPARATIONS FOR A PROLONGED CONTEST. 387 

could not constitutionally be received by members until a Speaker were 
elected. But a majority voted to receive it. The next attempt was to 
read it to the House ; but it was again objected that it was not ad- 
dressed to members in their disorganized condition, but was addressed 
to the Senate and House of Representatives, which had not then been 
organized. This objection was sustained, and although they had re- 
ceived the message, they refused to read it. 

The new year found the House unorganized, with the Presi- 
dent's message lying upon the Clerk's desk unopened and unread. 
One ballot was taken. A motion was next made to take up and read the 
President's message ; but, after debate, the motion was laid on the 
table. 

Members now began to make arrangements for continuing the contest 
indefinitely. Most of them had expected to draw their mileage to de- 
fray their current expenses ; but being unable to do that until the House 
were organized, found themselves out of funds. In many republican 
districts the people met in public conventions and passed resolutions ap- 
proving the action of their Representatives, made provisions for their 
members to draw on their local banks for such funds as they deemed 
necessary for defraying expenses at Washington. To meet these ex- 
penses, some State Legislatures made appropriations from their State 
funds.* 

Soon as the republican party became consolidated, its members became 
more confident. Those of greatest experience assured their friends that 
as the President, officers of government, and the army and navy must 
go without pay until the House should be organized, the pressure would 
soon be so great upon the democratic party that they would be com- 
pelled to submit to the election of a republican Speaker. 

Some State Legislatures passed resolutions sustaining the action of 
their Representatives, declaring the issue involved to be the extension or 
non-extension of slavery. Indeed, the entire debate turned upon ques- 
tions touching that institution. The several candidates were interro- 
gated upon the subject of slavery ; but Mr. Banks was the only one 
who avowed his concurrence in. the doctrines of the Declaration of In- 
dependence. 

* Mr. Richardson, the democratic candidate for Speaker, had been acquainted with the writer 
for some years, and, coming to his seat, suggested the absolute necessity of some compromise. 
The writer spoke with some degree of determination, declaring that he hated the very term com- ' 
promise, as it always meant some further surrenaer of northern rights and interests. "But," 
said Mr. Richardson, "how long do you expect to keep up this contest?" " Until the 4th 
March, 1S57," said the writer. Richardson appeared astonished, and saying—" You oe d—d /" 
walked away. 



388 RESOLUTION TO CLOSE THE STRUGGLE. 

The debate and ballotings continued without any material change or 
incident until the 25th January, when the President sent another mes- 
sage having relation to public affairs in Kansas. The members generally 
feeling some curiosity to hear what the President had to say in relation 
to that territory, ordered the message read, and then very quietly re- 
sumed the discussion. 

On the 29th January several propositions were made for an immediate 
organization. They were rejected, but by such small majorities as to 
indicate an organization at no very distant period ; and the Republicans 
now felt one, and only one doubt in regard to success. The southern 
" Know Nothings" had been Whigs, and bitterly hated the Democrats ; 
and the question now presented was, whether they would unite with their 
old enemies rather than see a republican Speaker elected. 

On the 3d February a resolution was presented, declaring that three 
more ballots should be taken, and if no election were had, the candidate 
having the highest number of votes on the 4th ballot should be declared 
Speaker. Soon after this vote was announced the House adjourned. 
Members now felt that the contest was drawing to a close. 

The next morning, reports from members showed that every Repub- 
lican stood firm, and that the " Know-Nothings " had pledged themselves 
to vote only for their candidate ; the assurance of success appeared to 
pervade every mind. All were solemn, and appeared conscious that the 
action of that day was to tell upon our national character in coming time. 

Mr. Aiken, of South Carolina, was announced as the democratic can- 
didate. And the first ballot, under the resolution, showed little change 
of parties. Banks received 102 votes ; Aiken, 92 ; Fuller, 13 ; Camp- 
bell, 4 ; and Wells, 2. 

By this time the spacious galleries were filled with eager spectators, 
the lobbies and passages were crowded by men and ladies anxious for 
the result. The next ballot was taken without any change of parties. 
A motion was made to adjourn, but it was voted down by 159 to 52. 
Mr. Fuller announced that he was no longer a candidate. The result 
now appeared to be anticipated by all, and as the Clerk commenced call- 
ing the roll of members for the final vote, there appeared to be the most 
intense interest felt on all sides of the House. As Mr. Barclay's name 
was called, he arose and declared that he wanted further information as 
to Mr. Aikin's views in regard to the " American, or Know Nothing 

• organization." The inquiry gave* rise to a colloquial debate, which 
lasted for an hour, detracting somewhat from the dignity of the occasion. 

• Confusion now reigned in various parts of the hall ; crimination and re- 
crimination was heard ; and members were seen standing up talking to 



THE FESAL EESULT. 389 

each other in great excitement as the Clerk proceeded in calling the roll. 
Various propositions were suggested, but the Clerk declaring all motions 
out of order, proceeded to call the names and record the votes of all 
the members. When the roll had been called through, there was so 
much confusion that it was difficult for any one to be heard. But the 
clerks and tellers proceeded in their duties, and when the count was 
completed, Mr. Benson, of Maine — one of the tellers — rose, and in a loud 
■ proclaimed that "On the one hundred and thirty-third ballot 
Nathaniel P. Banks had received one hundred and three votes; Mr. 
Aikin had received one hundred votes ; Mr. Fuller had received six votes; 
and Mr. Campbell had received four vo tes. That Mr. Banks having 
red the highest number of votes on this ballot, was declared duly elected 
Speaker of Die thirty-fourth Congress.' 11 

At this announcement the spectators in the galleries broke forth' ia 
wild excitement. Cheer after cheer went up, amid the waving of hand- 
kerchiefs and demonstrations of unrestrained exultation, which were re- 
sponded to by hisses from the Administration side of the House. 

Some feeble opposition was made to Mr. Banks assuming the duties 
of the chair, when a resolution declaring him Speaker was offered and 
adopted by a large majority. This was in accordance with the prece- 
dent established in 1849, and rendered the election constitutional. 

When this resolution had been adopted, the Clerk, Mr. Forney, a 
Democrat of Philadelphia, called on Mr. Aikin, of South Carolina, Mr. 
Fuller, of Pennsylvania, ami Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, to conduct the 
Speaker to the chair. This being done — 

Mr. Banks delivered an appropriate address, and the Clerk called on 
the writer, being the oldest member of the House, to administer the 
oath of office. He walked into the open area in front of the Speaker's 
chair, and, taking a position some thirty feet from him, desired that 
officer to raise his right hand, which he did, and the oath was admin- 
istered in a loud voice, according to the form practised in New England 
from the time of the Pilgrims. 

Thus closed this remarkable conflict, after a struggle of nine weeks. 
In this contest the most discordant elements were brought to the support 
of principle, and the power of truth in political contests was very fully 
and beautifully illustrated.* 

* When the writer, possessing a large physical frame and whitened hair, walked out to the front 
of the Speaker to administer the oath, the audience %,t once recognized him as haying labored long 
and steadily in the cause of human freedom, and another cheer was given for this result of his labors. 

This form of administering the oath had never been adopted on any former occasion, and it was 
regarded with so much interest that the papers of the next morning described the incident, and 
gave a verbatim report of the language used on the occasion. 



390 MILITARY INVASION OF KANSAS. 

The effect of this victory was felt through the country. Men now 
saw the moral influence which a few individuals devoted to truth 
and freedom had been able to exert upon Congress. Sixteen years 
before this occurrence Mr. Adams and the author of these sketches 
were the only representatives in Congress of the doctrines now sup- 
ported by a majority of the House. 

The slaveholders and those who sympathized with them appeared to 
realize that political power was gradually escaping from their grasp, and 
that the day was rapidly approaching when the people would resume 
control of the Government and wield it for their own benefit. 

Slavery and freedom had met in open conflict, and truth had again 
prevailed. From the hour that slavery had been rejected from Cali- 
fornia, defeat and disaster had attended the advocates of the institution. 

On Monday, 5th February, the House proceeded to read the Presi- 
dent's message, and having completed its organization, commeuced the 
ordinary business of legislation. 

But now the difficulties in Kansas attracted public attention. Many 
emigrants from New England had settled in that territory and constituted 
almost its entire resident population. The people of Missouri and the 
other slave States had not been idle. They could not send emigrants to 
cultivate its soil, but they prepared to enter the territory with an armed, 
force and to establish the institution of slavery by military power. 

Accordingly, on the day appointed by the Governor for electing mem- 
bers of the General Assembly, and on the previous day, citizens from 
Missouri with arms and banners entered the territory, took possession 
of the ballot-boxes, drove the resident citizens from the polls, and pro- 
claimed their companions members of the Legislature. These men 
professing to have been elected, assembled and enacted a slave code 
for Kansas, which in point of barbarity had seldom been equalled since 
the darker ages had passed away. 

The resident citizens were unwilling to recognize either the legislators 
or the slave-sustaining enactments which they had passed. 

The people of the free States in the meantime sent arms and 
ammunition to their friends in Kansas to enable them to protect them- 
selves against the invaders, who were now endeavoring to establish 
slavery by force of arms. The citizens of slave States also sent men 
and arms to reenforce the harbingers of slavery. 

Military parades, drills, and camp equipage became common. Skir- 
mishes were fought, victories were won and lost, men were slain, 
prisoners were captured, and civil war with all its ordinary incidents ex- 
isted in that territory. The President espoused the cause of the slave- 



THE PKE6IDENT SUSTAINS THE INSURGENTS. 391 

holders, and sent troops of the United States to maintain the curse of 
human bondage and enforce the worse than Draconian code enacted by 
adherents of slavery from slave States. 

The Senate called on the President by resolution to communicate to 
Congress such information as he might possess in relation to the difficul- 
ty existing in Kansas. He replied by message on the 14th February, 

I in 't he assailed the societies and men of the free States who had 

" *fel •! emigrants to the territory as "promoters of civil war," and 

mildly censured the invaders who had entered the territory with an armed 

force and usurped the government; but in the most emphatic terms 

I as "insurgents" those who refused to obey the enactments 

of their invaders. He referred td those who favored the formation of a 

and to those who sympathized with them, as " enemies of the 

- and "violators of the Constitution," and those who op- 

i extension of slavery he characterized as "agitators seeking 

to overthrow the Government and institutions of the country." 

This extraordinary state paper did not fail to call forth the deep 
indign : those who were endeavoring to maintain the constitutional 

rights of the free as well as of the slave States. They spoke of the 
President as the mere instrument of the slave power, seeking southern 
favor by treason to the Constitution and to freedom. They placed upon 
the record of debates the fact that he had sent the army of the United 
8 ' to ail1 fc he invaders, and sustain the usurpers of the govern- 
ment in Kansas. 

In iat e, Messrs. Hale, Sumner, Seward, Wilson, Hamlin, Fes- 

iden, Collamer, Footc and Wade, were outspoken and bold in exposing 
the crimes committed iu Kansas by the supporters of slavery. The 
transactions in that territory, the attempts of the Executive and his 
friends to sustain them, afforded an inexhaustible theme for criticism ; 
aud these exposures were the more unwelcome to the slave power in conse- 
quence of the approaching Presidential election, which was to take place 
before the next meeting of Congress. But the Senate debated the 
message of the President and the report of the committee to whom it 
was referred, as well as the bill admitting Kansas to the Federal Union 
as a State. These subjects were discussed until the 8th July, when the 
Si n ate passed the bill authorizing the people of Kansas " to form a 
State constitution and government." ■ 

In the House of Representatives the message of the President was 
examined with less severity. Members of that body appeared to regard 
the association of the President with the Vice-President, Atchison and 
the border ruffians of Missouri, to be so obvious as to deprive him of 



392 THE PRESIDENT AND HOUSE AT ISSUE, 

that influence which could alone justify them in commenting upon his 
conduct. 

On the 27th February, Mr. Grow, of Pennsylvania, chairman of the 
Committee on Territories, in the House reported a bill declaring most 
of the acts passed by the usurpers of Kansas void and securing the peo- 
ple of that territory in the enjoyment of their rights. 

But as there appeared to be doubts thrown arouud many important 
facts connected with Kansas, resolutions were introduced authorizing the 
Speaker to appoint a committee of three members, who should visit the 
territory, take testimony, and report to the House facts concerning the 
invasion, the election, and action of the self-styled Legislature. 

Tbis so-called Legislature of Kanstis passed a pretended law profes- 
sing to authorize the people to elect a delegate to Congress, and a man 
holding a certificate of election under these enactments, appeared and 
demanded admission ; but after a full examination the House declared 
that the self-styled legislators had no authority, that their enactments 
were void, and that the delegate had no claim to a seat in that body. 
Thus did the House of Representatives spurn the enactments which the 
President declared valid. 

The report of the committee sent to Kansas to ascertain facts appear- 
ed to set all cavil at rest ; and the free-State men of the territory and 
their advocates in Congress and in the States determined to encounter 
the horrors of civil war rather than submit to this attempt to extend 
slavery over Kansas by force of arms. 

But a difficulty arose in consequence of the unwillingness of the Com- 
mittee on Ways and Means to exercise the legitimate functions which 
the House possessed. In reporting the army appropriations, they placed 
the whole amount in the hands of the President, without restriction, 
instead of declaring that no part of it should be used to transport 
troops to Kansas or to sustain them in that territory. Thus did that 
committee propose to give the President means to carry on the civil 
war. 

Older members of the House were dissatisfied with this action of the 
committee, and when the bill came under debate, Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, 
chairman, on being publicly interrogated, reluctantly declared that he 
would not look at sectional difficulties while legislating for the country. 
But an amendment was proposed limiting the appropriation so as to re- 
strict the President from using the army for the subjugation of Kansas. 
This amendment was adopted, and the bill passed the House of Repre- 
sentatives ; but the Senate disagreed to this restriction, and the bill was 
finally lost on this disagreement. 



SUMNER 8 EEPLY TO BUTLER. 393 

The feeling of hostility which had grown up on the part of the 
South towards the North, was manifested by the dictatorial bearing 
of southern members. It had been confirmed and strengthened by 
yielding up rights and interests on the part of northern members 
until slaveholding Representatives regarded themselves as the superiors 
of those from the free States. They found it impossible to maintain 
an intellectual superiority whenever northern members boldly con- 
fronted them ; yet Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, a man usually of, 
gentle demeanor, was quite impatient of opposition upon questions 
touching slavery. Whenever the institution came under debate he 
assumed a dictatorial tone, spoke disrespectfully of his opponents, and 
on matters relating to Kansas he became offensive to those who 
opposed him. 

Mr. Stunner, of Massachusetts, was erudite and always gentlemanly. 
lie had the advantages of a fine education, improved by travel in 
foreign countries. A man of pure morals, proud of the noble State of 
which he was a Representative, and devoted to the cause of progress and 
human elevation ; he devoted all his energies to the discharge of official 
duty. 

On the 20th May, he delivered a speech on the bill authorizing the 
people of Kansas to form a constitution and State government, a part 
of which was in reply to the remarks of Mr. Butler on the same subject. 
No one doubted, nor did Mr. Sumner deny, that he intended such a 
rebuke to Mr. Butler as would admonish that gentleman of the propriety 
of observing a respectful courtesy towards his opponents ; yet no friend 
of Mr. Butler or of slavery charged Mr. Sumner with overstepping 
the bounds of order, or of strict parliamentary rules in his remarks ; but 
they were forcible, indeed withering towards Mr. Butler, who had ren- 
dered himself subject to the severest criticism. The force of his logic and 
the obvious justice of his allusions were wounding to the pride of South 
Carolina : her Representatives were said to have held a consultation on 
the subject. Their Senator and State had been placed in an unenviable 
position, and the question appeared to be how they were to wipe out the 
stain ? 

Unfortunately, "they believed in the practice and habits of the South, 
and instead of maintaining the intellectual conflict, they had recourse to 
physical violence. 

Mr. Brooks, attended by Mr. Keitt, both armed, entered the Senate 
chamber after the adjournment of the 22d May. Mr. Sumner remained 
at his desk engaged in writing, with a few other Senators who were also 
engaged at their desks, as was usual. Brooks approached Mr. Sumner 



394 ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION IN THE SENATE. 

in front, with a heavy cane in his hand, saying : " I have read your 
speech ; it is a libel on my State and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of 
mine," at the same instant striking him. Sumner attempted to rise ; 
a second blow, falling with full force, prostrated him, at the same time 
depriving him of consciousness. As he lay paralyzed and apparently 
lifeless, Brooks proceeded to inflict further blows, while Keitt, with a 
pistol in one hand and a cane in the other, ordered the spectators to 
stand back. Mr. Crittenden, of the Senate, and Mr. Murray, of the 
House, being present, seized Brooks and removed him ; while Mr. 
Morgan, of the House, protected the apparently lifeless body of Sumner 
from further outrage. 

Perhaps Massachusetts and South Carolina were never more faithfully 
represented than by. Mr. Sumner and Mr. Brooks. The one was intelli- 
gent, gentlemanly and kind, holding that all contests were to be decided 
by reason, by the judgment and conscience ; the other holding that 
violence, physical force, the duella, or battle-field, was the proper resort 
of gentlemen and of nations. The ideas of the one were refined and 
pure ; the other adhered to the barbarism of former ages. Indeed, this 
distinction was equally well defined between the people of the free and 
slave States. 

On the morning following this assault, Mr. Wilson called the attention 
of the Senate to the outrage which had been perpetrated upon the sena- 
torial sanctity of that body. 

Mr. Seward moved a resolution of inquiry and the appointment of a 
committee. The resolution was adopted, but every member of the 
committee, five in number, were Democrats ; no Senator opposed to the 
Administration was appointed. This outrage upon parliamentary usage 
was as great as the personal assault on Mr. Sumner. But the facts were 
so well known that the committee could neither misunderstand nor mis- 
represent them, although they referred to the speech of Mr. Sumner as 
the cause of the attack. As Mr. Brooks was a member of the House 
of Representatives, a copy of the report was transmitted to that body 
for its action. 

But before this report was made to the Senate, Mr. Campbell, of 
Ohio, offered to the House of Representatives resolutions of inquiry in 
relation to this violation of the privileges of the Senate by a member of 
the House. The consideration of these resolutions was opposed by Mr. 
Clingman and Mr. Craig, of North Carolina ; Mr. Smith and Mr. Letcher, 
of Virginia. The Speaker, however, decided that the resolutions were 
privileged under parliamentary law, and entitled to immediate considera- 
tion. From this decision Mr. Clingman appealed ; and every member 



BROOKS EXPELLED FEOM THE HOUSE. 395 

from the slave States voted against the decision, together with Messrs. 
Day, of Ohio ; English, of Indiana ; Florence, of Pennsylvania ; Fuller, 
of Maine ; Marshall, of Illinois ; Miller, of Indiana, and Talk, of New- 
York. But the Speaker was sustained by a large majority, and the 
committee was appointed, and on the 2d June made a full report of 
, accompanied by a resolution expelling Mr. Brooks from the 
House. This report was, however, 6igued by Messrs. Campbell, Pen- 
nington and Spinner ; while Messrs. Cobb and Greenwood, belonging 
to the democratic party, made an elaborate report, concluding with 
the resolution that the House of Representatives had no jurisdiction of 
the case. 

On the 10th June, resolutions from the Legislature of Massachusetts 
were present d, stating the rights of each State to be represented in the 
Senate, and the sanctity of the persons of .Senators while thus representing 
their States, and in dignified language deprecating the late outrage 
upon one of her Senators. 

Similar resolutions were received from the Legislatures of Bhode 
id and Connecticut, they being in session at the time. 

Mr. Sumner being confined by his wounds, Mr. Butler replied to 

the speech of Mr. Sumner. To this Mr. Wilson, while his colleague 

I prostrated, rejoined in an able manner. Mr. Evans, of 

South Carolina, also spoke upon the subject. Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, 

spoke only in excuse of himself for not interfering at the time of the 

• lit, as his object might have been misconstrued. Mr. Slidell, of 

i isiana, declared that he heard the blows, but felt no interest in the 

natter. Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, openly justified the assault. To these 

remarks Mr. Wade, of Ohio, responded with earnestness, declaring the 

issinlike and cowardly."* 

On the 9th July, the House proceeded to the consideration of the 
resolutions and report of the committee expelling Mr. Brooks. Mr. 
Clingman, of Xorth Carolina, argued that the attack was a mere assault 
and battery, of which the House could take no jurisdiction. Mr. Bingham, 
of Ohio, replied with great force ; and after further debate the vote was 
taken upon expelling Brooks, and stood 121 in the affirmative and 
95 in the negative. All the members from the slave States, assisted by 

* As Mr. Toombs had justified the assault which Mr. Wade pronounced cowardly, members 
expected that Toombs would challenge him ; but he did not. 

Mr. Brooks challenged Senator Wilson, who replied that the moral feeling of his State would not 
justify him in meeting an opponent in a duel ; but the people expected him to defend himself. 
Tbfa he expected would call out an attack upon the street, and he prepared for it. Indeed, the 
feeling now ran so high that several Senators and Representatives carried arms upon their persons 
wherever they went. 



396 FUNDS FOE THE SUBJUGATION OF KANSAS. 

Messrs. Florence, Cadwallader and J. Glancy Jones, of Pennsylvania ; 
Denver, of California ; English, of Indiana, and Marshall, of Illinois, 
voted in the negative ; while all the other members from the free States 
voted in the affirmative. 

There being less than two-thirds in the affirmative, the resolutions 
were lost. After the vote was declared, Mr. Brooks addressed the 
House, by common consent, for an hour, endeavoring to justify his bar- 
barous violence in consequence of Mr. Sumner's speech. When he closed 
he declared that he had already sent his resignation to the Governor of 
his State. 

On the following day the House proceeded to consider another reso- 
lution reported by the committee, for expelling Mr. Keitt for the part he 
had borne in the affair, which being so amended as to express the dis- 
approbation of the House, was adopted by a large majority, and that 
gentleman thereupon resigned his seat. 

Thus ended the public debate concerning a transaction which greatly 
disparaged our Government with foreign nations, involving the people of 
the free States in that low degree of civilization which only belonged 
to the slaveholding portion of the nation ; but the recollection of 
those scenes will long remain deeply impressed upon the memory of 
those who witnessed them. 

The general indignation of the northern people became intensified 
when it was found that Mr. Sumner continued unable to attend his 
duties in the Senate. He was subjected to painful operations at the 
hands of the most eminent medical men of Europe. He was temporarily 
paralyzed, and suffered exceedingly for nearly two years before he was 
able to resume his official duties. 

The natural result of these outrages was the formation of political 
parties upon the question of slavery and freedom. Indeed, the necessity 
for such political organization was so obvious that few persons appeared 
to doubt its propriety, when the first session of the thirty-fourth Con- 
gress adjourned. 

But that body having failed to pass any bill making appropri- 
ations for the army, the President called the members together by pro- 
clamation, for an extra session ; and a sufficient number of northern 
members now united with the Committee of the House to pass a bill 
giving the President both funds and army for the subjugation of Kansas, 
and the bill in that form became a law. 

Long before the adjournment, the people began to move in favor 
of a general political organization preparatory to the coming presi- 
dential canvass. The "Americans" or "Know Nothings," were to 



FORMATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 397 

meet at Philadelphia, and the leaders of the free-soil party called a 
meeting of their friends to be held in Pittsburg at the same time. The 
Americans were unable to unite upon any platform in regard to slavery ; 
and the Frce-soilers, after consideration, passed resolutions declaring 
their principles and expressing a desire that all who held those doctrines 
would meet in national convention for the nomination of candidates for 
P -ident and Vice-President. 
8 ii a tier a general call for a convention appeared, inviting " all who 
ed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the exten- 
sion of slavery, in favor of admitting Kansas as a free State, and in 
P of restoring the Government to the principles avowed by Washing- 
ton ami Jefferson, to meet at Philadelphia." 

Tin's restoration of the Government to the doctrines of our revolu- 
tionary fathers, had constituted the theme of contemplation by Mr. 
A 'lain- ami his associates since 183T. ~No reformation short of adopting 
those doctrines was regarded by them as of any importance. And this 
was intended to carry out that object. 
The convention, in point of numbers and of moral character, was 
..1 to any that had ever met in the United States. 
Ai Philadelphia, on the 18th June, a.d. 1856, the Republican 
was formed upon the principles explicitly enunciated in the reso- 
ld of which the following is a copy : 

R wived, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in 
i Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Consti- 
tution are essential to the preservation of our republican institutions; 
and the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States and the union of 
tes shall be preserved. 
"Resolved, That with our republican fathers, we hold to the self- 
evident truth, that all men are endowed by their Creator with equal 
and inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
That the primary object and ulterior design of instituting our Federal 
• Tiiment was to secure the enjoyment of these rights to all persons 
r its exclusive jurisdiction. That, as our republican fathers, when 
they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained by the 
Constitution that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property 
it u t due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision 
:. ust all attempts to violate it ; and to prevent the establishment of 
ry in any territory of the United States by positive legislation, 
]•!■ dbiting its existence therein : And we deny the constitutional 
>rity of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individual 
relation of individuals to give legal existence to slavery in any 



398 REPUBLICANS DISCARD KNOW NOTHINGS. 

territory of the United States, while the present Constitution shall be 
maintained."* 

There were also other resolutions relative to Kansas, to the " Ostend 
Manifesto," and to polygamy in Utah ; but the two which we have 
quoted show the primal truths, the essential elements on which the 
founders of the republican party based their claims for support. 

These resolutions were intended to invoke a distinct and unmistakable 
issue with all who held to the necessity of corruption, or fraud, or 
oppression in our American Government. The writer while serving 
in Congress had publicly called on southern men to acknowledge 
or deny these doctrines ; but he had never been able to obtain from 
a slaveholder or a sympathizer with slavery a direct answer to the 
question. 

The adherence of those who founded the republican organization to 
the doctrines enunciated was well expressed by a subsequent vote. The 
Americans or Know Nothings of New York, had appointed a large and 
respectable committee to meet a similar committee from the Republican 
Convention, in order to agree upon terms by which the Americans and 
Republicans could unite. The committee had come from New York for 
that purpose, and were in the convention when Governor Morgan, of 
that State, proposed to appoint a corresponding committee on the part 
of the Republicans to meet them. 

To this it was objected that the Republicans had proclaimed their 
doctrines, which were immutable, and no committee could change them. 
If the " Americans" maintained those doctrines, they would of course 
vote with the Republicans ; if they did not hold to them, they could not 
and ought not to support them. Nor could any Republican vote for 
any man who denied these essential principles, and Governor Morgan's 
proposition was laid upon the table with but little opposition. 

The convention having assumed the name of " Republican " as its 
party designation, and nominated John C. Fremont as its candidate for 
President, and William L. Dayton for Vice-President, adjourned. 

But this assertion of primal truths as the basis of the organization was 
novel to the politicians of the old parties. Messrs. Clay, and Webster, 
and Calhoun, and Cass, and other statesmen had discarded this policy, and 
its adoption now was regarded by their admirers as an imputation upon 
the wisdom which those great men were supposed to possess. All 

* The first of these resolutions was penned by Hon. Preston King ; the latter was written by the 
author in his library, at Jefferson, Ohio. Mr. King and the writer were both on the committee 
appointed to report resolutions and platform to the convention, and these were adopted by unani- 
mous vote of the committee, and in convention there was not a dissenting vote. 



THE ISSUE MADE UP. 399 

admitted the doctrines, but many denied the policy of adopting them. 
Some said the " self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence" 
were admitted by both the democratic and whig parties. Leading 
Democrats in the free States, in public and in private, asserted that 
their party held them firmly as Republicans. But the more ex- 
perienced men of that day admitted that in practice both of the old 
parties denied them. 

There was much difficulty encountered from that pride of opinion which 
i- natural to the human intellect. Old politicians who had grown grey 
in maintaining the policy of a national bank, a protective tariff, and 
distribution of the proceeds of public lands, could not understand how 
tli. -e should be laid aside and the primal doctrines of government be 
1 to as the basis of a party organization. Men who had always 

ailed their opponents as the only argument in favor of themselves, 
could oot understand why the platform of any party should fail to attack 
• who opposed it. 

The result of the election placed James Buchanan in the Executive 
Chair ; but all saw that his success had been achieved by the united 
support of northern men, who dared not deny the doctrines enunciated 
by the Republicans; or that the slaveholders practically repudiated 
them. It wns also well understood that the democratic party could 
only be held together by the enunciation of some principle on which 
all could unite. 

The American or Know Nothing party had now sunk in political death, 
and only two parties were before the nation : of these the republican 
only avowc itial doctrines as its basis. 

When the thirty-fourth Congress reassembled in December tlS56> 
fur its third session, it seemed admitted by all that the Republi- 
cans had become a political power in the nation. Their scattered forces 
had been collected, their principles had crystallized into definite form, , 
and the members of that organization felt full assurance of success at 
the Presidential election of 1860. 

The civil war in Kansas continued ; property was destroyed, buildings 
were burned, men were slain, and skirmishes fought in order to establish 
slavery therein. 

The President's annual message gave ample evidence of the feelings 
of his party. Former Executives had been accustomed to express with 
great dignity their views uppn important questions of policy and of 
principle; but Mr. Pierce now descended from his official position to 
read lectures to the people for discussing their rights : and he assailed 
those State Legislatures who passed laws for protecting the liberties 



400 THE MESSAGE CRITICISED. 

of their people ; and falsely charged the anti-slavery men with agi- 
tating the emancipation of southern slaves. This misrepresentation was 
constantly repeated by men in office and politicians, so far as to become 
evident that they intended to falsify the historic record in regard to it. 
The message was criticised with great freedom ; the right of the people 
to discuss whatever subject entered into the administration of govern- 
ment was maintained, and all attempts to usurp undelegated" authority 
by the Executive was denounced ; the untruthful assertions in the mes- 
sage were exposed, and the President's friends were called on to vindi- 
cate him against these charges of official mendacity. 

In the Senate, Mr. Hale reviewed the message with deserved severity 
and with consummate ability. In that work, Senators Wilson, of 
Massachusetts, and Trumbull, of Illinois, engaged with a zeal becoming 
patriots ; while the press of the country repelled his attacks upon the 
people for speaking their sentiments, declaring them new and without 
precedent. 

In the message the whole subject of our Kansas difficulties was open- 
ed up for debate. The question of extending slavery was again pre- 
sented, and the issue between the parties on that subject was rendered 
unmistakable. This was the first fundamental issue ever formed be- 
tween the political parties of our nation. Although the leaders of the 
whig party in 1844 professed opposition to the extension of slavery, 
they had not dared to proclaim it as a principle in their national plat- 
form. Such, too, was the case when the Democrats were about to annex 
Texas : Indeed, the joint resolutions in favor of that measure were intro- 
duced both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives by Whigs, 
but now the republican party, representing the principles enunciated at 
its formation, stood compactly and immovably opposed to this leading 
doctrine of the democracy. 

._., The reopening of the African slave trade was much agitated in 
the cotton-growing States. The Governor of Alabama, in his 
message, called attention of the Legislature to this subject, and it was 
said that several cargoes of slaves had been recently imported by its 
citizens : Individuals boasted of having followed that barbarous traffic, 
declaring that the laws of the United States against it could not be 
enforced within any slave State. Southern men insisted that slavery was 
right and proper ; that the Federal Government was bound to support 
it : and taking this as the predicate, they declared that it was for the 
interest of the cotton States to increase the number of their slaves, 
asserting with great confidence that if slavery be right, the slave trade 
could not he wrong. 



aie. etheridge's kesolution. 401 

On the 15th December, Mr. Etheridge, of Tennessee, offered a resolu- 
tion, declaring " the African slave trade to be shocking to the moral 
of the civilized portion of mankind ; and that any act of Congress 
conniving at, or legalizing that horrid and inhuman traffic would justly 
subject the Government and citizens of the United States to the reproach 
and execration of all Christian people throughout the civilized world." 

Southern members opposed the introduction of the resolution, but it 
was finally brought to a vote, and adopted by 152 to 57, only one mem- 
ber from the free States, Mr. Florence, of Pennsylvania, voting with 
the slaveholders, while Messrs. Etheridge and Zollicoffer, of Tennessee; 
Smith, of Alabama ; and Kennett, of Missouri, sustained the resolu- 
tion. The feeling against the slave trade became so strong that several 
members win; had voted for it, at the time of which we are speaking, 
took occasion subsequently to declare their hatred of it. 

Dining this last session of the thirty-fourth Congress, constant inti- 
mations were thrown out in regard to the settlement of the constitu- 
tional right of carrying slaves into our Territories by the Supreme Court, 
and northern men were inquired of as to the surrender of their opinions, 
provided the .Supreme Court should decide in favor of that measure. 
Uut uo one appeared to understand the allusion. 



/ 



402 THE CASE OF DEED SCOTT. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

SUBSERVIENCY OF THE SUPREME COURT CONSTITUTION OF KANSAS PRESI- 
DENT'S MESSAGE POLITICAL PRINCIPLES " AMISTAD" SLAVES— CONSTITU- 
TION OF KANSAS REJECTED WALKER'S EXPEDITION CLAIMS FOR DEPORTED 

SLAVES — RIGHT OF VISITATION; 

1 An important incident iu "the regime of slavery" transpired 

soon after the adjournment of the thirty-fourth Congress. The 
important and well-defined principles of the Republican party needed no 
explanation, no vindication. They were not only " self-evident," but 
they constituted the distinct and emphatic doctrines on which the 
Government had been founded, without the maintenance of which it 
must cease to be that established by our fathers. 

The result of the Presidential election showed clearly that the demo- 
cratic party of the North dared not take issue upon those doctrines, 
and had escaped defeat only by claiming them as their own ; while 
the southern wing of that organization distinctly and emphatically denied 
the existence of those " self-evident truths." 

All now appeared to see the overthrow of the democratic party, 
unless some effective movement were made to prevent the on- 
ward progress of the republican organization. To effect this object, 
recourse was had to the Supreme Court. A majority of the members of 
that tribunal were slaveholders, and at least one of the non-slaveholding 
members was believed to be as anxious to involve the free States in the 
crime of sustaining slavery, as were his fellow-judges of the South.* A 
case was made up by counsel in Missouri, stating that a negro woman, 
accompanying her master, who was a military officer, by whom she was 
held a slave, gave birth to a child while living in the Louisiana pur- 
chase north of 36 deg. 30 min. north latitude, and subsequently moved to 
and resided in Missouri. The child had been named " Dred Scott," and 
having arrived at mature age, sued for his freedom. The case was car- 
ried to the Supreme Court of the United States, and during the month 
of March, that tribunal took up the subject, and after hearing it elabo- 
rately argued, very gravely decided, that " although the language used 
in the Declaration of Independence was broad enough to include the 

* Judge Baldwin, of Pennsylvania. 



ITS DECISION EN* THE SUPREME COUET. 403 

Whole human family, and if used in a similar instrument at this day 
would be so understood ; yet history informs us that such was not their 
intention ; they did not include, nor did they intend to embrace colored 
persona, the descendants of African slaves," and they proceeded to de- 

"that blade men had no rights that white men were bound toMJ* 
respect." 

This denial of the essential truths announced in the Declaration of In 
pendence, astonished the people of the free States. But the barbarous 
ctrine that white men were not bound to respect the right of black 
men to In; , awakened among the people an intense abhorrence not merely 
ol the principle but of the men who enunciated a doctrine so revolting 
I hn.Mianity. The people believed the black man's rights to life as 
sacred as that of the white man. 

The intentional killing of black men was universally believed in the 
States to be murder; yet it was well known that the Federal 
Government had sent our army to Florida, where they butchered inno- 
i il men, women, and children because they were black. Indeed, the 
i ■ ader will recollect that men were shot down in the State of Pennsyl- 
vania^ under the fugitive act, They were shot by deputy marshals of 
the United States in Pennsylvania and in Ohio, and in every slave State 
the master was authorized to slay his bondman if he resisted the master's 
barbarous brutality. And in all the cotton-growing States they were 
driven bo hard at labor as to render the average life of persons after 
a manhood but seven years, and on the sugar plantations but 
five years.* It was therefore necessary, in order to vindicate the insti- 
tution, for the Court to assert this doctrine, revolting as it was. But 
when that tribunal assumed that the signers of the Declaration, in 
asserting that all men were endowed by their Creator with inalienable 
rights to life and liberty, intended to assert only that all white men were 
entitled to these prerogatives of the human soul, the people at once 
charged ignorance upon the Court rather than upon Jefferson and 
Adams and Franklin and their associates. 

That distinguished tribunal, however, became so excited as to assert 
the undisguised falsehood that "history shoxoed that the signers of the 
Declaration regarded black men as having no rights that white men were 
bound to respect." 

This decision, however, recognized one essential doctrine of the anti- 
slavery men. They had ever averred that the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence asserted the principles of the Government, and that the Con- 

• Vide " Jay's views of the Federal Government" and the slaveholders' address therein quoted; 



404 , THE CASE OF DRED SCOTT. 

stitution was to be so construed as to carry out the essential principles 
of the Declaration of Independence. But this had been denied by 
southern statesmen and by leading Democrats of the North. The 
Court, however, felt the necessity of admitting this doctrine, and were 
unable to find any warrant for slavery under the Federal Government, 
except by an attempt to show that the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence failed to express their own views, but asserted doctrines 
directly opposed to those which they entertained. 

The decision, however, shocked the public conscience. It 
seemed to satisfy the public mind that men who had so far vitiated 
their own moral natures as to hold their fellow-men in degrading bond- 
age, would even pervert the truth of history in order to vindicate their 
own conduct. The decision aroused a spirit of investigation and of 
independent thought among the people. 

Upon its publication slaveholders and northern Democrats hastened to 
adopt it as the platform of their moral and political faith, and thus was 
the great issue between the Republicans and Democrats distinctly formed 
and placed unmistakably upon the records of the nation. The right of 
all men to live, and to that liberty which is necessary to cherish and 
sustain life, had been asserted by the republican Convention, and was 
now as emphatically denied by the democratic organization north and 
south. It was an issue broad as human nature, eternal as the will of 
the Creator. Yet from the formation of this issue some professed 
Republicans were dissatisfied. They had belonged to the whig party, 
had embraced the doctrine so long adhered to by the leaders of that 
organization, " that no political party could succeed upon well defined 
principles ;" " that the people were not sufficiently enlightened and vir- 
tuous to maintain their own liberties, or to adhere to truth and 
justice as the basis of governmental organization j" and " therefore 
injustice, wrong, and even corruption, were necessary to the support 
of our Government." They labored to convince those who had long 
endeavored to organize a party upon the doctrines of the Declaration of 
Independence, that such an organization could not succeed. They ap- 
peared unwilling to admit that Clay, and Webster, and Ewing, and 
Corwin, and Fillmore, had been in error in, their efforts to placate the 
slave power instead of resisting it. And while they were struggling to 
convince Republicans of what they deemed errors of policy, they found 
themselves constrained to practise the doctrines which they theoretically 

deprecated. 

The persons elected by slaveholders from Missouri and other slave 
States to constitute the Legislature of Kansas passed an act authorizing 



A NEW ISSUE FORMED. 405 

the election of delegates to a convention for forming a State constitution 
and government. The people generally refused to recognize those men 
as possessing any power, and regarding the enactment as void, refused to 
appear at the polls or to vote for delegate. Of course, thfise who were 
pro-slavery were elected, and a slaveholding constitution was framed. 
But at this point a difficulty was discovered. The framers of this pro- 
slavery constitution became convinced that the people of Kansas would 
never adopt it if it were submitted to them for approval, and they pro- 
ceeded to declare it absolutely the constitution of that State ; and it 
wa& transmitted to the President, for the purpose of being laid before 
Congri 38 preparatory to admission to the Federal Union. 

At the assembling of the thirty-fifth Congress there was more intense 
feeling throughout the United States in regard to Kansas than had 
existed at any former day. 

The " American " or "Know Nothing " party had disappeared; and 
many Democrats who had left their party to attach themselves to this 
novel association returned to their democratic friends, and a majority of 
members of the House were now obedient to the dictates of the slave 
power. James L. Orr, of South Carolina, was elected Speaker. 

President BucnVaan's first annual message was characterized by an 
elaborate argument in favor of admitting Kansas under the slaveholding 
constitution which had been adopted by the Convention, but not by the 
people. He referred to the fact that the constitution of Kansas secured 
to the master his property in slaves, according to the then recent " deci- 
sion of the Supreme Court and the dictates of justice!" Indeed, the 
general tone of the message recognized slavery as just and righteous, 
exhibiting the entire devotion of the President to the institution. 

Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, and many other Democrats, had given [1858 _ 
the public to understand that they did not believe in the despo- 
tism manifested by the Convention in Kansas. They insisted that the 
people had the right to pass judgment upon a constitution which was to 
bind them and their children to an indefinite period of time. But the 
message of the President showed them clearly that support of this slave- 
holding constitution was to be the test of democratic orthodoxy. 

On referring the message to appropriate committees in the Senate, Mr. 
Douglas took occasion to say that he differed from the President on the 
point alluded to ; and Mr. Stuart, of Michigan, declared his dissent from 
the President's views ; while Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, sustained the 
President. Other members were drawn into the debate, and it became 
evident that a rupture of the democratic party must take place from 
the agitation of this question. Southern oligarchs never permitted 



406 THE DEMOCRACY DIVIDED. 

their allies to falter at any doctrine or principle which the slave power 
had adopted ; and the more experienced statesmen foresaw that the hesi- 
tation of Mr. Douglas in adopting the Lecompton Constitution, without 
permitting the people to express their opinions upon it, would exclude 
him from southern support for the Presidency. 

In the House of Representatives the message was criticised with 
severity. It was debated at length, analyzed, dissected, and its moral 
and political deformities exposed. The President, in former times, had 
served both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, when 
silent and quiet submission to the dictation of slaveholders was practised ; 
but he had been absent from the United States four years, and appeared 
unconscious of the progress of public sentiment during that time, and his 
message had been far better adapted to the Iwenty-Mth than to the thirty- 
fifth Congress. 

The public mind was now absorbed with the difficulties in Kansas. 
Emigrants from every free State resided there. They had left behind 
them relatives and friends, who sympathized with them in their strug- 
gle for freedom. They sent to Kansas provisions, money, arras and 
ammunition, tents and all the paraphernalia of war ; while most of the 
southern States continued to send men and arms to maintain the bar- 
barous code of slave laws enacted by the military usurpers ; and civil 
war continued to desolate that devoted couutr}-. 

At an early period of the session, Mr. Douglas introduced to the 
Senate a bill authorizing the people of Kansas to adopt a State consti- 
tution and form of government. Resolutions were also adopted, calling 
on the President for copies of all correspondence in relation to Kansas 
not previously reported. 

In the House of Representatives, Mr. Banks, from the Com- 
mittee on Territories, reported a similar bill. Other bills, having 
the same object in view, were also reported. These bills were debated, 
and questions relating to the extension of slavery, its moral character 
and its pecuniary bearings, were for some two months the theme of 
remark. 

The Legislature of Ohio, in view of the difficulties into which the 
democratic party was being precipitated, adopted resolutions declaring 
their confidence in the President, their adherence to the Cincinnati Plat- 
form ; then, denouncing the Lecompton Constitution as unwise and 
unfortunate, and asserting that every constitution ought to be submitted 
to the people, they called on the Senators and Representatives from 
that State to oppose the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton 
Constitution. 



POLITICIANS MORALLY DEPRAVED. 407 

The incongruity of these resolutions afforded a rich theme for com- 
ment ; yet they showed that the democratic party could not stand 
ther on the issue which had been formed between them and the 
Republicans. 

The Legislature of Tennessee, anxious to express the voice of her 
people, adopted resolutions condemnatory of Senator Bell, of that State, 
for his course in regard to Kansas, and instructing her Senators and 
requesting her Representatives to exert their influence for the admission 
of Kansas upon the Lecompton Constitution. 

Mr. Douglas now stood in avowed opposition to the President and his 
policy iu relation to Kansas. Senator Stuart, of Michigan, and Senator 
1 1 of California, also took position with Mr. Douglas. The last 

uamed Senator was a man of great boldness and possessed a high order 
of talent. He frankly and fearlessly maintained his position against the 
combined opposition of the party to which he had belonged, and finally 
fell a martyr to his integrity of purpose. He was killed in a duel with 
Judge Terry, of California, and iu his last moments declared that he was 
murdered "because of his opposition to a corrupt Administration and t/ie 
n df slavery." 

<>:i the 20th January, the President transmitted to the two Houses 
ofC - copies of the Lecompton Constitution and other documents 
connected with the formation of a State government. 

The issues now being made up, the supporters of slavery and the 
advocates of liberty ranged themselves on opposite sides in well defined 
onler, while a class of politicians, calling themselves Conservatives, 
appeared uncertain to which army they belonged ; they appeared to be 
vibrating between right and wrong, "preferring heaven, but choosing 
hefl." 

Others joined the Republicans, acted with them, but were at all times 
anxious to induce that party to abandon its principles and bring its 
members back to the support of the exploded policy of the whig party, 
of acting iu opposition to the democratic organization without referring 
to essential principles for their guide. This class of politicians proved 
more dangerous to the Government than its open enemies. Incapable 
of understanding the force of moral truth, or of appreciating the 
omnipotence of justice ; they at all times expressed the conviction 
that success must depend on shrewdness of management ; that sound 
policy might require injustice to individuals and classes or to sections, 
or it might require fraud aud deception to carry it out ;. that it might 
even require bribery and corruption to maintain the Government. 

These men were regarded by the experienced statesmen of that 



408 DIFFICULTIES IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. 

day as political infidels, destitute of the first requisites of patriotic 
politicians. 

No sooner bad the issues been fully settled in regard to Kansas, than 
Hon. Frederick P. Stanton, of Tennessee, a Democrat, long a member 
of Congress and more recently Secretary for the Territory of Kansas? 
published an address to the people of the United States, declaring that 
the real difficulty had risen from the unlawful invasion of the territory 
and the usurpation of its government by military force. These outrages 
had been approved by Mr. Douglas ; at least he had insisted that the 
enactments of the usurping Legislature were valid : Indeed, he had 
expressed no disapproval of the military invasion of the territory, and 
the fact that Stanton now stood fairly upon the grounds assumed by 
Republicans concerning Kansas served to discourage the leaders of the 
democratic party. 

Mr. Stanton had resided in Kansas, was well acquainted with the 
popular voice, and in his address declared that a large portion of the 
people were determined never to recognize the invaders as their legitimate 
rulers, and he confirmed the reports concerning frauds, oppression and 
despotism practised upon the people of the territory. 

This publication from the pen of a southern man of high moral and 
political standing was a severe blow to the dominant party. Hon. 
Thomas L. Harris, of Illinois, a member of the House of Representa- 
tives, who had been elected to Congress as a Democrat, came out boldly 
denouncing the invasion of Kansas, the usurpation of its government, 
and repudiating all political fellowship with men who sustained these 
outrages. Others in public life and thousands in private life now 
abandoned the democratic party and joined the Republicans because 
of then* unchanging principles of liberty and justice. 

As men now saw almost the entire time of Congress occupied in some 
form of agitation concerning slavery, they lost confidence in the predic- 
tion of Messrs. Clay, and Webster, and Calhoun, and Cass, and Polk, and 
Pierce, and Buchanan, and all those leaders who had represented that the 
gag-rules, the censure of members, the annexation of Texas, the Mexican 
war, the payment of Texas debts, the Fugitive Slave act, and the repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise was to silence agitation. Each of these 
incidents had greatly weakened the influence of the free States, and had 
strengthened that of the slave States ; and the agitation, at first slight, 
had now crystallized into civil war, which threatened a dissolution of 
the Union : And the prediction of Mr. Adams and his associates in 
1843 had thus far been literally fulfilled. 

To hide these facts from the great bedy of the people was now the 



PRIMAL EIGHTS OF HUMAN NATURE. 409 

object for which the slave power, the democratic party and many old 
Whigs appeared to labor. Indeed, some professing to have embraced the 
republican faith labored assiduously and others insidiously to bring 
republican doctrines into disfavor.* 

The whig party held the decisions of the Supreme Court to be of 
binding validity on all departments of government, while the demo- 
cratic party correctly asserted that every officer sworn to support 
the Federal Constitution must act on his own judgment, and could 
not be. controlled by the opinion of any judge or officer against his 
own convictions. The doctrines of the Supreme Court in the case of 
Dred Scott were examined with great ability, and the philosophy of 
human government • was more fully brought before the people than 
at any former day. Statesmen insisted that He who created the earth 
and ordained the laws by which its fruits were produced, had imparted 
to men the appetite and imposed upon them the duty of obtaining 
those froits: Thai Ee who created the seasons had given to men the 
means of providing protection against the storms of heaven ; had made 
it their duty to obtain raiment and habitation. That to say the Creator 
had imposed these duties upon men without giving them the inherent 
and imprescriptible right to that liberty which is necessary to obtain 
them would be an impeachment of the Creator's justice, and downright 
infidelity. They asserted that it was "self-evident" that every human 
being possessed the right to enjoy the light of the sun, to breathe the 
air of heaven, to Batisfy his hunger from the fruits of the earth, so long 
u he forbears to interfere with the rights vested in other persons. 
They insisted that these rights and necessities are not given nor im- 
posed by human constitutions, or human laws, or human governments ; 
but by the Creator ; and that human governments, constitutions and 
laws should recognize these rights as constituting a part of the Divine 

* Hon. Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, had been Governor of that State, a Representative and a Sena- 
tor in Congress, and more recently Secretary of the Treasury under Mr. Fillmore. On professing 
to hold republican doctrines he was nominated for Congress. He attended a State republican con- 
vention and was chairman of the Committee on Resolutions. The committee reported resolutions 
modified in their tone from the platform adopted at Philadelphia. Soon as the regular business of 
the convention was completed, Mr. Corwin was called on for an address. He complied, and spent 
three-fourths of an hour in efforts to convince Republicans of the duty of catching and return- 
ing fugitive slaves. The writer was next called, and he spent an equal amount of time in ridi- 
culing and hoHingup to public contempt every " bloodhound ■ who chased negroes, whether on 

SrtMquenUy, Mr. Corwin was reported to have boldly denied the essential truth that the natural 
rights of mankind to life and liberty were derived from the Creator. He was reported to have said 
that « all our rights are derive.? from the Constitution." To this the writer replied in a letter 
to a friend, which was published j and the editor of the paper giving Mr. Corwm's speech then 
stated that it had been erroneously reported. 



410 me. ckittenden's amendment. 

"Will : That invasion of these rights must of necessity constitute crime, 
whether such invasion be by individuals or by men associated in the 
legislative or executive administration of governments. They asserted 
that religion and philosophy blended and united in support of these 
principles, and that the duties of Christians and philosophers, statesmen 
and jurists were precisely the same in regard to them. 

These doctrines, held by all true Republicans, were opposed and denied 
by all slaveholders and northern Democrats : But the Conservatives, as 
they were called, would neither admit nor deny them ; but generally 
bore themselves in such manner as to induce Republicans to believe they 
held to them, and at the same time cause the Democrats to believe they 
denied them. 

1S5S] ^ ^ ms character was Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky. He was 

an honest man of the school alluded to. He had been a contem- 
porary of Mr. Clay, and held the policy which that statesman maintained. 
He was eloquent and able : and his constant efforts at compromise arose 
from the conviction that deception and fraud and oppression were neces- 
sary to save the Government. He introduced an amendment to the bill 
for admitting Kansas with its slaveholdins: constitution. His amend- 
ment provided in substance that Kansas should be admitted under the 
Lecompton Constitution, provided her people should at a subsequent 
election vote in favor of adoptiug it. 

This amendment was in accordance with Mr. Douglas' views, and 
every Republican in the Senate voted for it: But as the Senate was 
strongly democratic, the amendment was rejected ; the bill passed and was 
sent to the House of Representatives. 

The Constitution of Kansas in Article 1, Section 1, declared that 
" the right of property is before, and higher than any constitutional 
sanction, and the right of an owner of a slave to such slave and its in- 
crease is the same and is as inviolate as the right of the owner of any 
property whatever." 

The antagonism between this provision in the Lecompton Constitution 
of Kansas and the American Declaration of Independence was so clear 
and unmistakable that no intelligent mind could misapprehend the issue. 
Yet republican Senators had voted for this amendment, which if adopted 
would admit Kansas as a slaveholding State. 

The debate in the House of Representatives was long, able and greatly 
embittered by the violations of faith which had repealed the Missouri 
restriction of slavery ; yet, the fundamental principle which denies the 
right of men to enslave their fellows constituted the issue on which the 
parties were contending. 



THE VOTE THEKEON. 411 

amendment of Mr. Crittenden was now pressed in private conver- 
sation upon the Republicans of the House, as the only means of defeat- 
ing the bill. It was nothing- more nor less than a compromise be- 
tween slavery and freedom. But for its adoption in the House most 
1 iblicana were anxiou-, under the conviction that it would defeat the 
'a bill. 
At length the Senate's bill came up for hearing. The writer ri853 
nored its rejection : Against this motion all the members from 
• Eites voted, together with the following, from- — 

I BCTICDT. . Messrs. Arnold, Bishop, and Clark, 3 

N Fore. . Clarke, John Cochrane, Corning, Haskins, 

Batch, Kelly, Maclay, Russell, Searing, 

Sickles, Taylor, and Ward, 12 

N J v. . " Adrain, Hnyler, and Wortendyke, ... 3 
P . lvania. " Ahl, Dewart, Dimniick, Gillis, J. Glancy 

Jones, Owen Jones, Landy, Leidy, Mont- 
gomery, Phillips, and White, .... 11 
Ohio. ... " Burns, Cox, Groesbcck, Hall, Lawrence, 

Miller, and Pendleton, 7 

Indiana. . . " Davis, English, Foley, Gregg, Hughes, and 

Niblack, 6 

Illinois. . . " Marshall, Morris, and Shaw, 3 

California. . " McKibbin and Scott, 2 

These forty-seven northern Democrats, with the slaveholders of all 
parties, constituted the negative vote on the motion to reject the bill, 
making in all 137, while the affirmative included the whole republican 
force, amounting to 95 votes ; and the motion failed by a majority of 
forty-seven. Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Michigan, 
Wisconsin and Iowa furnished no vote against the rejection of this bill. 
After the failure of this motion, Mr. Montgomery, of Pennsylvania, 
offered the amendment of Mr. Crittenden as a substitute for the bill, and 
it was adopted by 120 ayes to 112 noes. The bill being thus amended, 
passed the House and was sent to the Senate for concurrence. The 
Senate rejected the amendment, as was expected. A committee of con- 
ference after much labor agreed upon a substitute for the bill, which was 
finally passed. By it the constitution was returned to Kansas for adop- 
tion by the people. But as it was well understood that most of the 
people of Kansas were in favor of a free State, there was but little 
chance for its adoption : Yet the friends of African bondage in the 



412 THE SLAVE POWER AGAIN DEFEATED. 

Senate continued to press the matter of slavery in Kansas upon the 
consideration of that body. 

The admission had been defeated against the combined influence of 
th<?slave power and the democratic party, aided by the Executive, who 
declared that " Kansas was as much a slave State as Georgia or South 
Carolina." 

r - 8 . The Legislature of New York having passed resolutions 

against the admission of Kansas as a slave State, transmitted 
them to Senator Seward, who presented them to the body of which he 
was a member. 

The Republicans became still more confident after this defeat of the 
slave power. But although the great body of that party were hostile to 
the institution of slavery upon political and economical principles, there 
were comparatively few who regarded it a crime, or asserted that life 
and liberty were "gifts of God," lying behind and above human enact- 
ments : While the framers of the Lecompton Constitution did not 
hesitate to assert that " the right of property in slaves existed before, 
and was higher than any constitutional sanction :" Indeed, this moral 
phenomenon manifests itself throughout the history of the American 
Government. The advocates of oppression, of despotism and crime, 
have ever exhibited a boldness that almost commands respect : while 
the advocates of liberty, justice and Christianity have been modest, 
retiring and diffident. 

This defeat of the slave power was more deeply felt by southern men 
than was generally understood. After the exclusion of slavery from 
California, the supporters of that institution looked to Kansas as the 
remaining source from whence to add another slave State to the Union. 
That having failed, they seemed to comprehend their situation. They 
felt that they were to be rapidly dwarfed in political power and influ- 
ence, preparatory to the final extinction of human bondage. 

, Laboring under these gloomy forebodings, the advocates of 

slavery appeared to feel that spirit of desperation which usually 
precedes the overthrow of men and of nations. They now spoke boldly 
of secession ; of separating from the free States, and gave distinct indi- 
cations of that subsequent uprising in favor of oppression, which will in 
coming time form one of the most astonishing incidents in the history of 

nations. 

The President, in his annual message, had again recommended an 
appropriation from the public treasury to compensate the Cuban slave- 
dealers who professed to own the people on board the Spanish schooner 
11 Aniistad." This recommendation was regarded by many northern 



THE "aMISTAd" CLAIM DEFEATED. 413 

members as insulting to the people of the free States. It was so treated in 
the House of Representatives. Mr. Leach, of Michigan, a devoted friend 
of liberty, made an expose of its absurdity, and a democratic Committee 
on Foreign Affairs in the House consigned this recommendation of the 
President to the same silent repose to which northern petitions had been 
committed in former days. This was the fourth time that the Executive 
had pressed upon Congress the propriety of appropriating the money of 
the people to sustain this Cuban slave trade ; but the rising of those 
Africans, and assertion of their liberty, was so palpably just, so evidently 
in accordance with the law of nature, that Executive influence, aided by 
that of the slave power, could not subject the people of the free States 
to the humiliation of paying the piratical slavedealers for the loss of 
their victims. 

But the Senate treated the message with greater respect. Mr. Mason, 
of Virginia, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, reported a bill grant- 
ing full indemnity' to those slavedealers : And so zealous was the author 
of the bill for its passage, that he obtained a vote making it the special 
order, for a day certain at the next session, when it was to override all 
other business ; but learning the repeated fate of that measure in the 
House of Representatives, and being aware that Messrs. Seward, Sumner 
and Hale were prepared to resist its passage, he failed to call it up for 
debate, and this favorite measure of the slave power, after a struggle of 
nearly twenty years, slept in silence. 

While these incidents were transpiring, the people of Kansas had 
elected delegates to a convention for the purpose of framing a free State 
government. The convention met at Topeka, and agreed upon a con- 
stitution. The Legislature passed resolutions in favor of admission 
upon this constitution, and transmitted the resolutions to Congress. 
They were respectfully received and ordered to be printed, and the 
status of the territory in regard to slavery appeared to be established, 
although the slave power interposed every obstacle that could delay 
its admission as a State. 

The advocates of human bondage now realized their condition. 
California was free : All efforts to create a war with Spain, in 
order to obtain Cuba, had failed, and the 'Ostend Manifesto had 
fallen into apparent contempt. The last and greatest effort to extend 
slavery into Kansas had been defeated, notwithstanding the entire 
influence of the Executive and of the democratic party had been ear- 
nest ly exerted in favor of the measure : and it was evident that no 
further extension of the institution within the jurisdiction of the United 
States could be hoped for : The slave power found its energies para- 



414 ANOTHER PLAN FOR EXTENDING SLAVERY. 

• 

lyzed, its influence dissipated, and its prestige lost. The popular feel- 
ing of the free States had been awakened to its moral and political 
crimes : yet its devotees determined on one more effort to extend the 
institution and increase its power for maintaining a separate and inde- 
pendent government, before leaving that which had so long protected 

and cherished it. 

An expedition to Central America for the purpose of conquest 
was now agitated among the people of the slave States. That 
country was well adapted to slave labor. The people were supposed to 
be somewhat effeminate, and unprepared to defend themselves against 
an invading force. William Walker, of Alabama, appeared to be the 
master-spirit of this piratical foray upon an unoffending people : while 
many leading men of the slave States were said to be active in aiding 
him with men and money to carry out his design. Indeed so fully 
were the people of the slave States identified with this unlawful and 
unauthorized invasion of Central America, that no man of the South 
was known to oppose it. The subject was openly approved and encou- 
raged by some of the southern newspapers, while it is not known that a 
paper in either of the slave States openly condemned it. It was said by 
Walker, and believed by the public, that he held conversations with the 
President and other high officers of Government, stating to them his 
intentions ; and Walker himself asserted that he had the President's 
tacit consent to fit out the expedition, which was a most palpable 
violation of the laws of the United States as well as of the law of nations. 
He went so far as to publish what appeared to be a, correspondence 
between himself and the Federal Executive on the subject, and which is 
yet uncontradicted by President Buchanan : but the popular disgust of 
the North became apparent. The northern press spoke out manfully in 
condemnation of all who aided or approved of this outrage upon inter- 
national as well as municipal law : and the President appeared to feel 
constrained to make an effort to suppress the movement. Whether 
this effort was made in good faith or not, is a question which the writer 
is not authorized to pass upon, but it is due to the truth of history that 
he should say the President at that time could not have suppressed this 
expedition gotten up among a people, all of whom were in favor 
of it. 

It consisted of a few hundred men and three ships. They left our 
shores and landed in Nicaragua. Walker issued a proclamation declar- 
ing the establishment of a new government, constituting slavery one of 
its essential elements. 

The rjublic indignation became so manifest after the expedition had 



* CAPTUEE AND DISCHARGE OF WALKEE. 415 

departed, that the President gave orders to Commodore Paulding to 
pursue Walker and bring him back to the United States. 

Walker was a man of daring and enterprise. He was cruel and 
despotic. But placed in that sickly climate, with little food and less 
medical attendance, his force diminished as he advanced, until he found 
himself unable to proceed further. He was soon surrounded by greatly 
superior numbers, and appearances indicated that justice might speedily 
be executed upon him and his followers. 

In the meantime the brave old commodore, dreaming of no [1S53> 
deception, but regarding it his duty to bring back Walker, and 
having reached the coast, sent all his disposable force in pursuit, and 
Walker and his men were rescued from the grasp of an outraged peo- 
ple, by the men sent to arrest and bring them to the United States, 
in order that justice might be executed upon them. 

This faithful and literal execution of orders by the gallant commo- 
dore, appeared to have been unexpected by the President, as well as 
by the slave power. Walker was now in the United States, and in 
the custody of their officers : Yet no efficient movement for his pun- 
ishment was made ; and southern statesmen, with characteristic effront- 
ery, charged both the President and Commodore Paulding with the 
exercise of unlawful authority in arresting Walker and his men while 
within the territory of a foreign power. It was admitted that he had 
violated the laws of the United States, and would have been liable to 
punishment had he been arrested on the water ; but inasmuch as he 
was captured on land, they contended that the whole proceeding was 
void, and they* demanded the discharge of Walker and his men. 

The President, always subservient to the slave power, directed the 
discharge of Walker, not because he was innocent, nor because he was 
not properly held under the laws, but for the reason that he had been 
arrested on land and not on water. The absurdity of the principle that 
Walker ought to escape punishment because he had been arrested within 
another government by consent of that government, will at once enable 
the reader to comprehend both the effrontery of the slave power and 
the abject obsequiousness of the Executive. 

The Senate, by resolution, called on the President for such corres- 
pondence aud information touching the capture of Walker and his men 
by Commodore Paulding, as might be in possession of the Executive. 
In answer to this resolution, the President spoke mildly of Walker's 
offence, and explicitly disapproved of his capture on land. The message 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which Mr. Mason 
was chairman. He made a report, concurring in the views of the Presi- 



416 SLAVES IMPOKTED FKOM AFEICA. • 

dent, and strongly censuring Commodore Paulding for the faithful per- 
formance of his duties. There was much debate on this resolution. 
Slaveholding Senators approved Walker's expedition, and were there- 
fore unwilling to hear it denounced. 

The subject also attracted much attention in the House of Bepresen- 
tatives. Southern members justified Walker and his expedition, while 
the advocates of human rights denounced the invasion of Nicaragua as 
an infraction of natural and of international law, for the worse than 
piratical object of establishing slavery therein. They ridiculed the idea 
that Walker's capture on land constituted any reason why he should not 
be punished : Showed that if any one had a right to complain of the 
force which captured Walker, it must be the government of Nicaragua, 
with whose consent the arrest was made : That the guilt or inno- 
cence of Walker was not affected by the place of his capture, and that 
nothing short of slaveholding audacity would raise the objection, and 
nothing short of abject servility would admit the validity of such an 
argument. 

But these troubles to the slave power came not alone. As it was 
known that slaves were imported into the southern States, and the 
American Executive was supposed to connive at this crime, which our 
nation and laws had pronounced " piracy," the British Government sent 
cruisers to the Gulf of Mexico to watch for piratical slavedealers. These 
cruisers, while seeking for men who had waged a piratical war upon hu- 
man nature, interrupted some suspected American merchantmen so far 
as to ascertain that they were " Americans," and not "pirates." The 
masters of these ships, on reaching the United States, sympathizing 
with the slave interests, made complaint of having been stopped on their 
voyage by British cruisers who claimed to exercise the " right of search." 
This right of search claimed by England in time of war to examine the 
manifests and cargoes of neutral powers had constituted one of the prin- 
cipal causes of the war of 1812, and the very name was odious to the 
American people. The slave power understood this cruising in the West 
India seas and in the Gulf as an imputation upon, the "peculiar insti- 
tution," and became excited, threatening vengeance upon Britain for 
" thus attempting to put down the commerce of the United States," as 
they expressed it. The hereditary jealousy and long cherished prejudices 
of American sailors in regard to England as a maritime power did not 
fail to exaggerate every case in which an American ship had been visited 
by British officers. 

On the 14th May, Mr. Bright, of Indiana, pi'esented a resolution 
calling on the President for any information which might be in his 



AN ABANDONMENT OF DOOTKINES. . 417 

possession touching encroachments upon our commerce in the Gulf 
of Mexico.* 

The President, in answer to the resolution, communicated such infor- 
mation as he possessed, and the whole subject was referred to the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations. 

On the 25th May, Mr. Mason, chairman of the committee, made a 
report, setting forth the doctrine asserted by Mr. Stevenson, our minis- 
ter at London, in 1838, that British cruisers, while searching for slave- 
dealers declared pirates by England and the United States, have no 
right to intercept the progress of a suspected ship bearing the American 
flag, even to ascertain whether it be engaged in the slave trade or in 
lawful commerce. 

This doctrine had been met and combated by Mr. Adams in the 
House of Representatives, and apparently abandoned by the American 
Government in 1842, when, by the Treaty of "Washington, the British 
ambassador not only refused to acknowledge the exemption of suspected 
vessels from such inquiry, but the American Government agreed to fur- 
nish a naval force to be kept near the African coast for the purpose of 
suppressing the slave trade. 

It appeared clear to the judgment of reflecting men, that every ri858 
master of a ship who detested the traffic iu slaves, would gladly 
exhibit his innocence whenever suspected. It was equally plain that 
no nation who held the slave trade in just execration, would complain of 
such interruption of its ships when suspected of being engaged in that 
inhuman traffic. But it was the intention of the slave interest to resist 
the exercise of this legitimate power and duty by Great Britain and by 
our own national ships, as southern men were at that time notoriously 
engaged in the importation of slaves : and strange to say, not a Repub- 
lican in the Senate uttered a word against this arrogant doctrine, which 
had been so successfully resisted by Mr. Adams eighteen years pre- 
viously. On the contrary, Messrs. Hale and Seward, and Wilson and 
Wade united in supporting the doctrine contended for by slavedealers 
and successfully resisted by the advocates of liberty for twenty years 
previously. The resolutions of Mr. Mason, evidently concocted for the 
purpose of securing our ships engaged in the slave trade from visita- 
tion by British cruisers, were adopted by a unanimous vote of the 
Senate : and the influence of that body was prostituted to protecting 
the slave merchants of the United States from merited punishment. 



* This gentleman was expelled from the thirty-seventh Congress on account Of his sympathy 
with the rebels. 

27 



418 FURTHER CLAIMS FOR DEPORTED SLAVES. 

« 

The subject was also debated in the House, where the doctrines assert- 
ed by unanimous vote of the Senate were characterized as a code for the 
protection and encouragement of " American piracy." In that body 
the doctrines enunciated by Lord Palmerston, and maintained by Mr. 
Adams, were reiterated and supported by argument. 

In a former chapter the reader has been informed of the man- 
ner in which compensation was obtained for slaves deported by the 
British army and navy after the treaty of Gh.ent had been entered into. 
A list of all slaves lost after entering into that treaty was made out, 
and when compensation had been obtained from the British Government, 
notice was given to claimants to make proof of their loss and receive 
the money. At this stage of the proceedings it was found that many 
claimants had preferred fraudulent demands for slaves which they had 
not lost. These fraudulent demands had swelled the amount received 
from the British Government much above the real loss of slaves. This 
surplus remained in the treasury, and southern slaveholders, emboldened 
by the success of the bill for the relief of " Wigg," heretofore men- 
tioned, now presented a list of slaves said to have been really lost at the 
close of the war of 1812, but not claimed until the present session. Al- 
phia Jennings claimed four slaves; Henry A.Wise, one; Ann Robin- 
son, one, Edward Reed claimed a husband, wife, and four children ; 
Mary Martin, one slave. 

Mr. Mason, of Virginia, presented the claims and reported the bill in 
favor of paying for them. He and Mr. Pugh, of Ohio, argued in favor 
of the bill. Mr. Hale frankly avowed his hostility to the bill, as it 
acknowledged property in human flesh. Mr. Hamlin, of Maine, stated 
' that he was unable to find sufficient facts to require him "to look into the 
principles of the claim. Mr. Mason declared that Great Britain had 
paid over the money, and he did not deem it necessary to debate the 
opinions of Mr. Hale, as the humanitarian views of Great Britain were 
becoming modified. 

Mr. Seward, of New York, said he was a member of the committee 
who reported the bill, tha.t he had opposed it in committee, and now op- 
posed it. He declared that no condition of things, no circumstances, no con- 
siderations, should induce him to rote for any bill that recognized property 
in man. He stated that he was not prepared to admit that the people or 
government of Great Britain were modifying their views in regard to 
slavery. The bill, however, passed the Senate by a vote of 32 to 15. 
Messrs. Allen, of Rhode Island ;.Broderick, of California ; Hoolittle, of 
"Wisconsin ; Fitch, of Indiana ; Pugh, of Ohio ; Stuart, of Michigan ; 
and Wright, of New Jersey, voting with the slaveholders. 



COMPENSATION REFUSED. 419 

In the House of Representatives the character of these claims was ex- 
posed by Hon. Philemon Bliss, of Ohio, a modest, retiring man, but an 
able and zealous defender of truth and justice : The bill was defeated. 
During this debate Mr. Garnett, of Yirginia, became personally insult- 
ing towards the author for opposing the bill. He was a slaveholding 
Virginian, and among the first in that State to encourage and pro- 
mote the rebellion which occurred two years subsequently.* 

* At the commencement of the rebellion Garnett received a brigadier-general's commission in 
the Confederate service, and feU at the battle of Antietam, in 1S62. 



420 • CHANGE IN POPULAR SENTIMENT. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

CHANGE OF POPULAR SENTIMENT — PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE — THE " AM I ST AD " 

SLAVES. 

18581 During the recess of the thirty-fifth Congress, the people of 
Kansas elected delegates to a convention for the purpose of form- 
ing a constitution and State government. They met at Leavenworth, 
and performed the duty assigned them, adopting measures for demand- 
ing admission to the Union ;. and at the reassembling of Congress the 
cause of liberty appeared more cheering than it had at any time during 
the preceding half century. Resistance to the encroachments of the 
slave power had become the sentiment of the northern people ; submis- 
sion to slaveholding dictation had become unpopular ; northern members 
of Congress no Ipnger turned pale or trembled at the frowns or the 
threats of slaveholders. Yet a class of servile politicians appeared per- 
fectly unconscious of the moral and political change that was going 
on around them. They seemed to imagine that, like themselves, the 
world was approaching a fossilized insensibility. 

There were also ambitious men, those who had opposed the republican 
organization until its success became certain ; they then joined it for the 
purpose of being in a majority. They could not readily assume a leading 
position in a party which they had long opposed. These men were 
anxious for some change of parties that would place them more conspicu- 
ously before the public ; and it was clearly foreseen that the cause of 
human rights was to be in far less danger from the slave power than 
from timid Conservatives and ambitious politicians, who, having long 
served in the whig and democratic parties, were anxious to resuscitate the 
ancient policy of those organizations, of avowing no moral truth or es- 
sential principle by which political partisans were to be judged, or to the 
support of which they might be committed. This class of men were look- 
ing at Presidential elections, contemplating the means of elevating them- 
selves and friends to office, while others were toiling for the reformation 
of the Government. 

The President, in his annual message, represented the excitement in 
Kansas as dying away ; which was very true, as the armed forces of the 
slave States had left, and the advocates of a free State were quietly 
pursuing their own happiness.- He next asserted that there was a gene- 



A SENILE PRESIDENT. 421 

ral acquiescence in the decision of the Supreme Court that a master 
might carry his slaves as property into any territory of the United States, 
and hold them under the guardianship of the Federal Constitution : And 
then declared that it had been settled at the last session of Congress 
that the people of a territory had the 'right under the Federal Constitu- 
tion to come into the Union with or without slavery. 

He next avowed that all resistance to the usurped government in Kan- 
sas had ceased, and that all opposition to it had been a resistance to 
rightful authority ; and characterized the efforts of the people of Kansas 
in favor of the Topeka Constitution, and against that framed at Lecomp- 
ton, as grave errors. 

It is no part of the historian's duty to explain these official statements, 
and it is beyond his power to reconcile them with truth as demonstrated 
by acknowledged facts. So far from acquiescing in the decision of the 
Supreme Court that a master may carry his slaves into any territory of 
the United States and hold them under the protection of the Federal 
Constitution, the feeling of hostility against the decision was much 
stronger than when it was first published. It was however true that 
resistance to the usurped authority in Kansas had necessarily ceased, as 
no attempts to enforce that authority was then being made. 

But it is due to President Buchanan to say, that during the last two 
years of his administration a strange hallucination appears to have be- 
clouded his intellect. His whole energies were exerted to suppress the 
rising spirit of liberty, and to make the people believe that amid 
civil war no discontent was exhibited. His assertion that the people 
were reconciled to the decision of the Court declaring human beings 
property was wholly inexplicable. The doctrine had long been urged by 
the slave power. It had ever been repudiated by Congress, and at the 
date of this message it was looked upon with deep detestation by every 
Republican. In attempting to uphold this Atheism, the Supreme Court 
had brought upon itself the disapprobation of the people, and had dissi- 
pated its influence. 

The President stated in his message, that the people of Kan- , lg5S _ 
sas had formed a new constitution, but argued that they ought not 
to be admitted until their population should reach the number of inhabi- 
tants necessary to constitute a congressional district ; nor did he appear 
conscious that while the territory had a far less number of inhabitants 
he had urged its admission under a slaveholding constitution, had even 
declared it a "slaveholding State as much as Georgia or South Carolina. " 

The President presumed so much upon his influence with the people, 
that he now urged the acquisition of Cuba. He had while minister at 



422 ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN CUBA. 

Loudon met other diplomatic authorities of the United States at Ostend, 
and united with them in advising the acquisition of that island. But 
the advise was unheeded, and now he urged it in his annual message. 
There was but one argument in favor of this robbery of Spain; by wrest- 
ing from her that rich island, it would increase the power of slavery in 
the Government, while it would diminish that of freedom in a corre- 
sponding ratio. But every circumstance tended to show that the Presi- 
dent's bias in favor of slavery arose from a paralysis of his moral sensi- 
bilities, and that stupid dogma of a darker age, which forbade him to 
connect moral duties with political action. 

As a further evidence of Mr. Buchanan's devotion to slavery, he 
again recommended the payment of money from the public treasury to 
the slavedealers claiming to own the persons on board the " Amistad." 
The anxiety of the President and of the slave power to obtain indemnity 
in this case, appears to have arisen from the desire to reverse the 
decision of the Supreme Court and the previous votes of Congress on the 
subject. All of those decisions admitted that these degraded heathen 
held from God the same right to live and enjoy liberty that white men 
possessed. They went so far as to admit that in slaying the captain 
and cook in order to regain their liberty, the Africans committed 
no ciime, and were justly liable to no punishment. The natural con- 
clusion followed, that every slave has the right to liberty, and if he 
can obtain it only by slaying' his master, he may do so with impunity. 
This was the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence, and of the 
Government at its formation, which the slave power had long labored to 
subvert. 
..„„„, At an earlv period in the session, Mr. Slidell, of Louisiana, 

185S.] J r 

from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, reported a bill for the 
acquisition of Cuba ; and Mr. Mason, of Virginia, in speaking upon it, 
gave satisfactory evidence that the democratic party were prepared to 
respond to the President's view on that subject ; but it was equally 
obvious that the northern members of that party were not prepared for 
immediate action in favor of the measure ; and after a long debate, it 
was laid aside and never again brought up for debate. 

The capture of Walker and his followers in Nicaragua, and bringing 
.them back to the United States, appeared to be a death-blow to further 
conquest ef territory for the extension of slavery, and the friends of that 
institution struggled hard during this session to adopt resolutions con- 
demning Commodore Paulding for pursuing "Walker on land and cap- 
turing him ; but their efforts failed. Northern Democrats began to find 
there was a point beyond which the people would not be led in support 



A DEATH-BLOW TO SLAVERY EXTENSION. 423 

of slavery. The resolutions referred to were not only rejected ; but 
others approving his conduct, and tendering him the thanks of Congress 
for the faithful execution of his orders, were adopted. 

This result appeared to extinguish the last ray of hope for the 
extension of slavery. Cuba could not be obtained ; conquest in 
Central America could no longer be hoped for ; and the curse of human 
bondage was limited, and its boundaries established. On every side of 
it liberty, triumphant and prosperous, was rapidly developing blessings 
to mankind. The age was characterized by the progress of human 
thought : Christian civilization was advancing. Observation, experience, 
philosophy and religion combined to teach mankind that justice to all 
men : the enjoyment of life, of liberty and happiness by all, was the 
design of the Creator and the legitimate object of human governments. 

Justice began to assert her prerogative in the Government ; and the 
fate of slavery appeared to be written upon the tablet of the heavens 
above us, and of nature around us. The times seemed propitious for the 
introduction of practical measures to restore the Government to its 
original purpose by repealing those enactments that sustained the insti- 
tution of slavery. While the bill making appropriations for legislative 
and judicial purposes in Kansas was before the Senate, Mr. Hale pro- 
posed an amendment, repealiug the first section of the law of the last 
session for admitting Kansas to the Union ; but after a long debate, the 
amendment was rejected. Similar efforts were also made in the House 
of Representatives, but they also failed. And it became evident that 
the popular mind was not yet fully prepared for positive action in favor 
of human rights. 






424 JOHN BROWN. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE RAID OF JOHN BROWN IN VIRGINIA MEETING OF THE THIRTY-SIXTH 

CONGRESS — CONTEST FOR SPEAKER THE RIGHTS OF THE SLAVE STATES 

THE SENATE USURPS JUDICIAL POWERS — CONFLICT BETWEEN FEDERAL AND 
STATE RIGHTS THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 

- r During the civil war in Kansas, individuals became accustomed 

to scenes of blood and cruelty. Among them was John Brown, 
a native of Massachusetts, a man of that ordinary education which it 
is the pride of that State to bestow upon all her children. He had a 
large family of sons, educated as their father had been, and possessing 
in a good degree his qualities of mind. Three of these sons early emi- 
grated to Kansas, and when the civil war broke out there, the father 
followed them, in order to make himself acquainted with their situations. 
One of the sons was barbarously murdered for his devotion to freedom : 
and another was captured, subjected to such abuse and suffering, that 
insanity relieved him from the consciousness of his condition. 

These tilings aroused the feelings of the father, who, attended by a 
younger sou, took the field. He was bold and unmoved amid dangers, 
maintaining the exercise of his judgment- under the most trying circum- 
stances. He distinguished himself on several occasions, and soon became 
a leader, and visited retributive justice on several of the invaders, some 
of whom were said to have been executed under his advice and 
direction. 

After the termination of hostilities in Kansas, Brown returned to 
Ohio and New England. He at all times, wherever he went, urged upon 
the people of the free States the positive duty of emancipating the slaves 
held in bondage by our southern brethren. 

In the course of the spring and summer of 1859, he appears to have 
engaged the services of a number of active, energetic and bold men. 
He also rented a small farm some three miles from " Harpers Ferry," 
on the Maryland side of the Potomac. He and his followers took pos- 
session of the farm and dwelling-house in September. In that building 
he deposited his arms and ammunition. In October, a number of 
negroes suddenly gathered to his standard ; their masters were in some 
instances seized by Brown and his followers, and held as prisoners, 
while he took possession of the public buildings at " Harpers Ferry," 



HIS RAID IN VIRGINIA. 425 

evidently intending to hold possession of them while the other portion 
of his forces, with the negroes, should escape to the mountains, where he 
intended to follow them, and thence escape to Pennsylvania : but they 
were soon surrounded and fired upon. His two sons and two others of his 
followers were killed, and himself wounded, when he and his party 
surrendered. The slaves returned to their masters, and those who were 
expected to lead them into the mountains fled. 

The incident appeared to strike Virginia and the whole South with 
astonishment. Throughout that State troops were called into service. 
Arms were prepared and ammunition obtained, while wonder and amaze- 
ment sat on every countenance. 

The President of the United States caught the alarm ; called out the 
militia of the District of Columbia ; sent United States troops to 
" Harpers Ferry ;" ordered arms and ammunition to be placed in the 
City Hall of Washington, where they could be obtained on the shortest 
notice, in case the slaves should rise ; while the governor and people of 
Virginia appeared to regard themselves as in the midst of an extensive 
slave insurrection. 

There was at that time an election pending in New York and in New 
Jersey. Members of the democratic party, thinking that great odium 
would attach to those who sympathized with Brown, now sought to in- 
volve the republican party in the transaction. A committee of demo- 
cratic gentlemen in the city of New York were appointed to ascertain 
and report facts concerning this invasion ; and the democratic press, 
at all times licentious, now casting off all restraint, attempted to 
involve the best men of the nation in this raid, charging them with 
having stimulated Brown to make an attempt to free the negroes of 
that State. 

Brown, wounded and a prisoner, was visited by Senator ri85g 
Mason, of Virginia, and Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, of Ohio, 
who endeavored to draw from him matter that would implicate Repub- 
licans. Their conversations with him were published, professing to impli- 
cate the author. He at once replied in a card published in Philadel- 
phia, where he happened to be on business, declaring that the murder 
of Brown's son in Kansas, - and the barbarities exercised in that territory 
under democratic influence had impelled Brown to pursue the course 
which he had adopted. In response to this card, an advertisement ap. 
peared in the papers published at Richmond, Virginia, promising a 
bounty of ten thousand dollars to any one who would bring the person 
of the author to that city alive ; or five thousand for his head. 

In the meantime Governor Wise, of Virginia, and other southern 



426 THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS CONVENES. 

men of distinction endeavored to magnify this transaction and give it 
importance. A number of the followers of Brown were captured, and 
all of these, as well as Brown himself, were tried for treason against the 
State of Virginia, convicted, and executed. 

The committee appointed by the democratic meeting in New York, 
made report, asserting in substance that Senator Hale, the Hon. Gerritt 
Smith, the author, and others, were involved in the insurrection which 
Brown had excited. But on receiving official notice to appear before the 
judiciary to answer for the libel, they acknowledged the error, paid costs 
and counsel fees ; and legal proceedings against them were discontinued. 

The Hon. William H. Seward, of New York, having returned from a 
European tour, soon found that a bounty of thirty thousand dollars was 
bidden in the papers of Richmond for the delivery of his head in that 
city. For these manifestations of barbarism, suited only to the darker 
ages, the author heard no explanation. 

185fl It was under these circumstances that the thirty-sixth Congress 

assembled. A large majority in the House of Representatives were 
Republicans. They were men of talents and patriotism ; but were 
w;in ting in that experience which was necessary to take the proper ad- 
vantages of their position. Most of them had been elected for the first 
time. Members of the old whig organization had been educated in 
the belief that the avowal of no principles, and the assuming of no defi- 
nite position, constituted the highest policy. 

Their first duty was to elect a Speaker ; but they selected no candi- 
date before entering upon the ballot, and instead of supporting an in- 
dividual, as many as six candidates were voted for. 

Soon as the result of the first ballot had been declared, Mr. Clark, of 
Missouri, a democratic slaveholder, with the apparent intention of em- 
barrassing the Republicans, insisted on presenting a resolution declaring 
that " the doctrines contained in a book entitled ' The Impending Crisis 
of the South, how to meet it,' written by oue Hilton R. Helper, of North 
Carolina, are insurrectionary, hostile to the domestic peace and tranquil- 
lity of the whole country ; and that no member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives who has recommended that work is fit to be Speaker of this 
House." 

The work referred to consisted merely of a compendium of facts 
showing the effects of slavery upon the prosperity of the southern States, 
and had been recommended by nearly every Republican member of the 
previous Congress ; and Mr. Clark proceeded to enforce the propriety of 
the resolution by a speech ;, while northern members insisted on pro- 
ceeding with the ballot. 



"the impending crisis." ' 427 

But the arrogance of Mr. Clark was equal to that of his proposition 
setting at defiance all parliamentary order as well as propriety ; he pro- 
ceeded to represent the book as advising the people of the " Union to 
stop at nothing until they put out of public life, disfranchised, and mur- 
dered a large portion of the inhabitants." 

This unfounded imputation appears to have alarmed Mr. Kilgore, of 
Indiana, who interrupted Mr. Clark, denying all sympathy with 'the 
doctrine set forth in the book, and begged Mr. Clark to withhold 
further remark until gentlemen who had recommended the work could 
explain their action, protesting that he and his people were con- 
servative. 

This indecent haste of Mr. Kilgore to manifest his own pusilauimity 
provoked the contempt of Mr. Clark, who merely replied that he was 
11 glad the gentleman was fitting from the wrath to com." Mr. Farns- 
worth, of Illinois, appeared anxious to relieve Mr. Kilgore, and called 
for -the reading of the work, saying he had no doubt that it contained 
facts that would edify both Mr. Clark and himself; but Mr. Clark 
would neither read nor suffer any other member to read any part of the 
book which he was so earnestly condemning. But Hon. Clark B. 
Cochrane, of New York, took occasion to say that he utterly condemned 
the sentiments of the book. 

Mr. Clark, finding Republicans timid and alarmed, now firmly per- 
sisted in his purpose. Mr. Kellogg, of Illinois, said that his name 
appeared among those who recommended the book ; declared he did 
not know whether the sentiments were right or wrong ; but if the House 
would adjourn he would be prepared on the following day to sustain or 
repudiate the doctrines of the work. 

On the following morning, Mr. Clark read a circular 
dated at New York, and signed by gentlemen from various [1859 ' 
States commending the work, and advising its general circulation. 
Then followed a certificate cordially indorsing the opinions, and com- 
mending the enterprise set forth in the circular. This was signed by 
about seventy members of the previous Congress and was followed 
by a similar" commendation signed by Horace Greeley, John Jay, Thur- 
low Weed, Wm. C. Bryant, Abram Wakeman, and several other 
gentlemen. 

Then followed several extracts from the work showing its character- 
Exhibiting : 

1st. The destructive effects of slavery upon the southern States. 

2d. The ignorance of the southern people. 

3d. The barbarous character of the slave trade. 



428 A SOUTHERN BOOK FOE SOUTHERN USE. 

4th. The remedy — proposing : 

1. A thorough political organization of non-slaveholders in the 

South. 

2. To elect no slaveholder to office. 

3. To extend no patronage to slaveholding merchants, phy- 

sicians, lawyers, hotel-keepers, or mechanics. 

4. No affiliation with slaveholders in religion, morals, or 

politics. 

5. No hiring of slaves. 

6. Discountenancing all pro-slavery newspapers. 
1. To extend patronage to non-slaveholders only. 

The work was written by a southern man and addressed to southern 
men, and the object of those who recommended its circulation was to 
introduce it North as well as South. This synopsis of the work being 
read, Mr. Clark spoke in the most impassioned language condemnatory 
of that part which recommended non-slaveholders to hold no commu- 
nion, religiously, morally, or politically, with those who held their fellow- 
men in bondage, and thus to destroy the slave interest, drive out slave 
labor, and dedicate the country to freedom. lie closed by declaring his 
intention to support no man for Speaker who had recommended that 

work. 

Neither the mover of the resolution nor any other slaveholder or ally 
of the slave power asserted that the work contained anything false, or 
anything that was morally wrong, or unjust ; but they insisted that it 
was opposed to the interests of oppression, to the policy of the South. 
Opposed to injustice, and wrong, and crime. Yet, although the support- 
ers of slavery commenced this agitation and continued it for many 
weeks, they charged the whole debate upon northern men. 

Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio, was the prominent candidate of the 
Republicans. He was a man of education, of talents, and had the ad- 
vantage of some experience as a statesman ; but unfortunately he had 
been educated in the school of northern diffidence, timidity, and submis- 
sion to slaveholding dictation. He appeared to regard it the duty of 
Congress not only to sustain, uphold, and protect slavery, but also to 
treat it with respect. Gentlemanly and kind in his deportment, he had 
not learned the necessity for entertaining decided opinions, of uttering 
them boldly and adhering to them firmly when right and abandoning 
them freely when wrong. The book contained nothing that did not 
commend it to his judgment and conscience when he signed the recom- 
mendation : but now southern men assailed him and determined to 
oppose his election to the office of Speaker, because he had honestly 



TIMIDITY AND BOLDNESS CONTRASTED. 429 

expressed the convictions of his own mind. Instead of boldly maintain- 
ing in a frank and dignified manner, his integrity and the truthful- 
ness of the work which he had recommended, he appears to have quailed 
under the taunts, the sneers and denunciations of slaveholders and their 
democratic allies. When thus assailed for doing a just and creditable 
act, he said he had never seen a copy of the work ; declared that he had 
never used such language towards southern men as they had towards 
him ; asserted that the republican party had never during his service 
in Congress introduced the subject of slavery ; and he trusted they 
never would ; and for himself proclaimed that he 'never would trespass 
upon the rights of any southern citizen. 

No sooner had Mr. Sherman resumed his seat than Mr. Leake, fl859 
of Virginia, in true slaveholding style, characterized Mr. Sher- 
man as the " abolition candidate ;" demanded whether he indorsed or re- 
pudiated the doctrines avowed in the work alluded to ; said he wished 
to hold the candidate up to face the music. To this insolence Mr. Sher- 
man submitted in silence. 

The debate on slavery now became general. The repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise, the civil war in Kansas, the raid of John Brown, 
were all discussed ; and Mr. Keitt, of South Carolina, assuming that 
Hon. William IT. Seward, of New York, was a prominent candidate for 
President, criticised several of that gentleman's speeches, and arrogantly 
demanded of northern members whether they indorsed the doctrines 
which Mr. Seward had avowed ? 

Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, obtained the floor. He was 
a man of unusual powers of analysis, of mature age, of more experience 
than any other member of the House, and, with all these qualifications, 
he was bold and fearless. He appears to have become impatient at the 
faltering timidity of his republican friends, and referring to the pro- 
tracted debate, and to the tone and style in which it had been conducted, 
said he did not blame southern men for the course they were pursu- 
ing, " nor for the language of intimidation, nor for the threat of rending 
God's universe from turret to foundation ;" asserted they had tried this 
course fifty times, and fifty times they had found weak and recreant trem- 
blers in the North who were ready to act from such intimidation. He 
pr:- eeded to say that all debate was out of order, and that no business. 
or proposition ought to be presented to divert the members from electing 
their Speaker. 

Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, attempted to interrupt Mr. Stevens, who 
said he would not be interrupted ; but Mr. Crawford, assuming a mild 
tone, was permitted' to proceed. He soon became very defiant, iutimat- 



430 SECESSION CONDITIONALLY PROCLAIMED. 

ing that northern men dare not avow their sentiments. ; declared that 
southern members wanted to know them. If they were for the abolition 
of slavery, he assured gentlemen there would be no shrinking — no 
cowardly falling back of southern men from the maintenance of their 
rights. 

As Mr. Crawford closed, Mr. Stevens, who had been listening very 
attentively, broke forth in mock admiration, saying, " that is right ! that 
b the way they frightened us before." At this Republicans applauded ; 
and southern men, stung by the imperturbable coolness of Stevens, 
sprang to their feet, and some rushed towards him as if intending per- 
sonal injury ; but he was instantly surrounded by friends, and as 
soon as his voice could be heard, he added, " now you see exactly what it 
is, and what it has always been." 

The newspapers generally applauded the boldness of Mr. Stevens, 
and most of them were severe upon all those who appeared to hesitate 
and falter during this struggle. Individuals felt restive under these 
criticisms, and much time was spent by members in defining their 
positions. But it is an historical curiosity that no member of the repub- 
lican party avowed the doctrines enunciated by the united voice of that 
organization at the time of its formation. Nor did any Democrat assert 
the doctrines proclaimed by the Supreme Court, and adopted as those 
of the democratic party. Both appeared timid as to the avowal of 
truth or the assertion of principle. Most Republicans appeared anxious 
to excuse themselves for having recommended the book. But the com- 
plaints of southern men began to assume a definite form, and members 
distinctly avowed the dissolution of the Union would follow the election 
of a northern President. 

This threat of leaving the free States to themselves whenever they 
should refuse to remain political vassals of the South gave evidence of 
the southern policy, and distinctly foreshadowed the approaching 
rebellion. 

1859] Southern statesmen were unanimous in proclaiming the doc- 
trine that the Federal Government was bound by the Constitution 
to protect and defend slavery in the Territories, while most northern 
members faltered in their course, hesitating to avow the distinctive prin- 
ciples of their party. Some leading men were endeavoring to prepare 
the mmds of Republicans to disavow all doctrines as the basis of party 
organization, while others endeavored to show that the republican party 
had no common principle of action. Hon. Thomas Corwin had long 
served in public life, possessed remarkable powers as an orator, but 
he adhered to the Whig school of politicians, which avoided all decla- 



A PROPHECY QUOTED. 431 

ration of principles : Yet he had been elected upon a distinct 
avowal that he held the doctrines enunciated by the Republicans at 
Philadelphia. Such, too, was the case with all those members who were 
striving to induce Republicans to abandon their principles as well as 
those who denied that the party had distinctive principles. These men 
had all been elected upon their avowal of the very doctrines which they 
now repudiated. Mr. Corwin declared himself as much of an exponent 
of republican doctrines as any other man, and proclaimed them to be the 
same as those avowed by Mr. Fillmore ; but asserted that the party 
united upon no principle, apparently unconscious that the doctrines of 
the party were proclaimed by the - unanimous vote of those who formed 
and constituted it, and were carefully placed on record where they re- 
main, and will continue in all coming time. 

Mr. Cox, of Ohio, replied to Mr. Corwin, and quoted a speech deliv- 
ered some eleven years previously, by the writer, while a member of the 
House of Representatives, in reply to threats then thrown out in 
favor of a dissolution of the Union, wherein he said : " When that 
contest shall come ; when the thunder shall roll and the lightnings flash ; 
when the slaves of the South chall rise in the spirit of freedom, actuated 
by the soul-stirring emotion that they are men, destined to immortality, 
entitled to the rights which God bestowed upon them : When the mas- 
. ters shall turn pale and tremble ; when their dwellings shall smoke and 
dismay sit on each countenance ; then, sir, I do not say we will laugh at v 
your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh : But I do say, the 
lovers of our race will then stand forth and exert the legitimate powers of 
this Government for freedom. We shall then have constitutional power 
to act for the good of our country and to do justice to the slave: We will 
then strike OFF the shackles from his limbs. The Government will 
then have power to act between slavery and freedom, and it can then 
make peace by giving liberty to the slaves : And let me tell you, 
Mr. Speaker, that time hastens : The President is exerting a power that 
will hurry it on ; and I shall hail it as the approaching dawn of that 
millennium which I know must come upon the earth."* 

Mr. Cox, apparently believing that he was rendering the slave 
power a service by such exhibitions of truth, next called on the Hon. 
John A. Bingham, of Ohio, to state whether he agreed with Mr. Corwin 
in regard to the fugitive slave act ? That gentleman had served some 
four years in Congress, and had attained the reputation of an able legis- 

* This language, which now appears so prophetic, was uttered eleven years before the commence- 
ment of the rebellion, and thirteen years prior to the President's proclamation of emancipation. 
Time has demonstrated its perfect accuracy. 



432 TWO INDEPENDENT MEMBERS SPEAK. 

lator and an accomplished scholar. He was also a man of high moral 
character, distinguished for his probity and candor, and now, in reply to 
Mr. Cox, he very frankly declared that he disseuted from Mr. Corwin's 
views in relation to the fugitive slave act, said that he utterly repudiated 
it as entirely unconstitutional. 

Mr. Cox next turned to Mr. Sherman, the candidate for Speaker, and 
commenced interrogating him. That gentleman refused to answer, 
although he must have known that Mr. Banks, four years previously, 
had by his open, frank and undisguised answers when thus interrogated 
secured his election as Speaker. 

lg59 , The debate continued with Occasional ballots until the 23d 

December, when Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, varied the scene 
somewhat. He was a lawyer by profession and had attained a fair 
standing at the bar, was an early friend of the slave, and accustomed to 
think and act for himself. He commenced his address by assuring the 
House that he should not deliver a speech in regard to Helper's book. 
He stated that his constituents read such books as they pleased, and recom- 
mended such as they thought proper, and sold them to those who wanted to 
buy. He declared that he held such right, and now gave southern gen- 
tlemen due notice that he should exercise it without asking permission 
of them or of anybody else. He then read extracts from a democratic 
paper, which purported to have been taken from an essay in favor of 
the African slave trade, and inquired of southern gentlemen whether 
they were in favor of restoring that traffic. 

Mr. Miles, of South Carolina, declared that under favorable circum- 
stances he would vote to restore it.* Other gentlemen declared their wish 
to repeal the law prohibiting the slave trade, saying it was unconstitutional. 

At this point, Mr. Stanton, of Ohio, interrupted Mr. Farnsworth to 
say that so far as Helper's book justified slaves in rising in insurrection 
he utterly abhorred and detested it. Mr. Stanton did not explaiu 
whether he denied the primal rights of all men to liberty, or whether he 
intended to say that when a man is once enslaved it is his duty to remain 
a slave rather than assert his own liberty. But this faltering of northern 
members ; this anxiety to gain southern favor by representing slaves as 
morally bound to remain in bondage when they could escape by insur- 
rection, had the effect to strengthen the slaveholders in their opinions 
regarding secession, while it paralyzed the influence of the republican 
organization. 

Mr. English, of Indiana, a Democrat, sought to render assistance to 

* At the time of writing this work (186-3) Mr. Miles was acting as a brigadier-general in the Con- 
federate service. 



SECESSION MOKE BOLDLY AVOWED. 433 

the South by exhibiting the proceedings of a religious meeting held in 
Chicago, in which slavery was declared to be a sin against God and a 
crime against mankind, and churches were advised to hold no fellowship 
with persons guilty of those iniquities. 

The solemn truths on which the Government was founded were now 
regarded by Democrats as endangering the Union. No one seemed to 
hold those who threatened its dissolution responsible for the crime which 
they proposed to perpetrate : On the contrary, the democratic party 
asserted the flagrant falsehood, that the men who sustained the Con- 
stitution, the rights of the States and of the people, were responsible 
for the action of southern traitors who were daily threatening to secede 
from the Union. 

For the apparent purpose of intimidating northern members, 
a preamble and resolution adopted by the Legislature of South 
Carolina was read, as follows : — 

" Whereas, The fraternal relations are dissolved between the North and 
the South, the slavehokling States demand a dissolution of the Union to 
be consummated : Therefore, be it resolved that $200,000 be placed at 
the disposal of the Governor, to be used at his discretion according to 
the exigencies of the times." 

Amid these incidents the republican candidate for Speaker remained 
silent, apparently wanting the moral courage to avow the doctrines on 
which the Government had been founded, and which now should have 
constituted the watchword, the rallying cry of the party to whom he 
looked for support. But in doing this he merely followed the practice 
of the former whig party. 

While Republicans were thus contending against the common foe 
without any apparent reference to the great truths which our fathers 
declared to be " self-evident," they were saved from defeat by difficulties 
equally great in the democratic party : One portion of that organiza- 
tion had declared themselves in favor of restoring the African slave trade, 
while another portion regarded that policy as destructive to the party. 

The debate, with occasional ballotings, continued. On the 23d De- 
cember Mr. Smith, of Virginia, delivered an elaborate speech in support 
of the doctrines of the Supreme Court proclaimed in the case of Dred 
Scott, that the Declaration of Independence did not refer to colored 
men. He spoke of the doctrines avowed by John Quincy Adams, and 
of the effort to censure him, saying he (Smith) was not then a member,* 

* Smith was a member, aa^owii by the journal and report of debates; and received a most 
withering rebuke at the tiaadijjffif -the venerable Ex-President, which on" would suppose he would 
not have forgotten. 

28 



434 SECESSION DISCUSSED. 



but that he understood Mr. Adams agreed to vex the South no more 
with petitions if the resolution of censure were laid on the table.* 

On the 30th December a general debate upon northern rights and 
southern aggression arose, when Mr. Hickman, of Pennsylvania, a 
Democrat, spoke plainly and strongly in favor of justice and liberty, as 
claimed by the people of the free States. 

Mr. Boyce, of South Carolina, a man of candor and boldness, frankly 
met the doctrines of the republican party as enunciated in their platform 
at Philadelphia. 

Mr. Stanton, of Ohio, instead of maintaining the moral, religious 
and philosophical truth that all men hold from the Creator equal rights 
to live, acquire knowledge and prepare for heaven, insisted there was no 
denial of the legality of slavery in the States, apparently admitting the 
authority of State Legislatures to modify, repeal or reverse the Will of 
God as manifested in the laws of nature. 

The doctrine of secession was again discussed, the physical power 
of the North and South compared, with the apparent expectation that 
their relative strength would be tested at no distant day. Mr. Boyce, 
declaring that the first campaign would cost the North a hundred 
million dollars, asserted that the free States could not raise that amount 
of money. • 

At length, many Republicans who had been elected upon well- 
defined principles, which every member was expected to maintain, 
now faltered and pusillanimously submitted to hear them assailed and 
ridiculed without reply. Indeed, during this contest it became evi- 
dent that a strong influence in Congress was exerted in favor of the 
doctrine that no party could be sustained upon principles of immutable 
truth and justice. Hence it followed that some were determined to vote 
for no man who had rendered himself obnoxious to the slave power by 
recommending Helper's book ; and Mr. Sherman, regarding himself shut 
out from avowing truth and justice as the basis on which he stood, 
and finding it impossible to unite the party in his support, very pro- 
perly withdrew : And although the slave power had lost its ability 
to elect a Speaker, it dictated to the friends of liberty whom they should 
not elect. 

The Republicans in the House of Representatives now returned 
to the ancient whig policy of selecting a candidate not for his 

* Mr. Smith is not only unsustained in this respect by the record, but is palpably 'contradicted by 
it. The report of the debate shows that Mr. Gilmer, who presented the resolution, publicly pro- 
posed to withdraw the resolution of censure if Mr. Adams would withdraw the petition. 
Mr. Adams publicly and solemnly refused, and the trial proceeded, and was continued until 
the slaveholders abandoned it. 



A SPEAKER ELECTED. 435 

well-known qualifications, nor on account of his attachment to principle, 
but for the reason that his doctrines were unknown, and his qualifications 
had not been tested. 

The choice fell on Mr. Pennington, of Xew Jersey, a gentlemanly, 
good man, unknown to the public outside of his State ; a man who was 
believed never to have expressed his devotion to the primal truths on 
which the republican party was based. 

On the first day of February, upon the 34th ballot, Mr. Pennington 
wus elected. This result was purchased, however, by the surrender of 
the doctrines and policy adopted in the election of Mr. Banks in 1856, 
when, standing upon principle, with only ninety-two members, they con- 
strained their opponents to yield ; and elected the candidate of all others 
the most obnoxious to the slave power, while the present Congress, with 
at least one hundred and seventeen professedly republican members, were 
compelled to give up their candidate and take one less objectionable to 
the South. 

White the contest was progressing in the House of Representatives, 
Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, presented to the consideration of the Senate a 
resolution, directing the Committee on the Judiciary to report a bill for 
the protection of States against invasion by authority or by the inhabit- 
ants of other States. 

On debating this resolution, Mr. Douglas insisted that the doctrines 
of the republican party tended directly to create invasion and civil war. 
To this Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, responded that, as slave labor and free 
labor were antagonisms, the promotion of one must necessarily tend to 
the destruction of the other, and the idea that the Federal Government 
should pass a law to prevent discussion among the people, would not 
enhance the prospect of Mr. Douglas' election to the Presidency. 

Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, charged the Legislatures of republican 
States with unconstitutional legislation for the protection of their free 
colored citizens. Those laws were denounced as treasonable. The 
republican platform, doctrines and policy were denounced by Mr. Toombs 
as destructive of slavery. But that Senator, nor any other member of 
either House, appeared conscious that when the people of the free States 
had petitioned Congress for laws to protect free colored persons, that 
body, under slaveholding influence, had returned for answer that each 
State was bound to enact its own laws for that purpose* 
These assaults upon the essential doctrines of the Government were 

* Sir. Toombs did not appear conscious that those laws for the protection of free colored citizens 
had been enacted at the suggestion and by recommendation of Congress, as appears in former 
chapters. 



436 THE OCCASION FOR SECESSION STATED. 

made in the presence of republican Senators, several of whom were 
regarded as candidates for the Presidency. Yet not one of them 
attempted a vindication of those " self-evident truths," which were held 
so gacred by Jefferson, and Adams, and Franklin, and their associates. 
But Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, met the proposition of Mr. Douglas more 
fully and emphatically than even Mr. Fessenden had done. He denied 
the authority of Congress to pass laws for the punishment of unlawful 
combinations, declaring that the States held the only power over that 
subject, while the Federal Government possessed authority to suppress 
insurrections. 

Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, took occasion very kindly to remind the 
eastern States of their dependence upon the West, and of the difficulties 
which those sections must encounter in case of separation. He admitted 
slavery to be a relic of former ages, characteristic of a crude state of 
society, which would disappear before the progress of Christian civiliza- 
tion ; but denied that the North could do anything with the slaves if 
emancipated, and he then proceeded to discuss the approaching rebellion. 
And as northern members continued to hesitate and falter and remain 
silent, slaveholders became arrogant and overbearing. 

Mr. Browu, of Mississippi, offered resolutions declaring it the duty of 
territorial governments to provide for the protection of all kinds of 
property, recognized by the Constitution and held under the laws of the 
United States. He also introduced a bill declaring slaves to be property. 

But Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, met the threats of dissolving the 
Union put forth by southern Senators, deliberately inquiring if there 
were any other explanations of these attempts at intimidation than the 
plain import of the language used ? Southern men were silent, and he 
proceeded to state the condition of the North and the South, and closed 
by saying, the " Union must and shall le preserved." 

But this declaration merely provoked further threats from southern 
Senators, who declared that the election of Mr. Sherman to the office 
of Speaker of the House of Representatives would be good and sufficient 
cause for southern Senators and members of the House of Representatives 
to leave Congress and return to their constituents. 

. The language of Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, used in a public address in 
that State, was now explained by that gentleman as intending to assert 
the duty of the people of Mississippi to withdraw from the Union when- 
ever the enemies of slavery should obtain possession of the Federal Govern- 
ment. In these supercilious threats the Democrats of the North seemed 
to concur ; not one of that party objected to, or uttered a protest 
against them. Indeed, they appeared anxious to convince the slave- 



OCCASION FOK SECESSION DEFINED. 437 

holders that, whenever their party should come into power, these 
demands should be complied with. Mr. Pugh, of Ohio, had, early in 
the session, introduced resolutions directing the Committee on the Judi- 
ciary to report a bill repealing so much of the laws organizing territorial 
governments in Utah and New Mexico as required the acts passed by 
those territorial Legislatures to be submitted to Congress for approval. 
But this movement of Mr. Pugh called out from southern members severe 
rebuke. lie was told, in the most explicit language, that the South 
would never hold political fellowship with any man who denied to C 
gress the power or duty to sustain slavery in the Territories. And Mr. 
Douglas and his friends were given clearly to understand that no advocate 
of the Kansas-Nebraska bill could receive the support of the slave States. 

In February, Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, introduced resolutions , 
declaring the rights of the States, asserting that negro slavery 
formed a part of the political institutions of various States ; that the 
Uuion of the States rested upon the equality of rights ; that it was the 
duty of Congress to provide for the protection of slave property in the 
Territories, as it was to protect other property of the citizens ; that the 
inhabitants of a territory, when forming a State constitution, may pro- 
vide fur the continuance or the abolition of slavery, and that the fugitive 
slave act ought to be enforced. 

These resolutions were discussed and amended, and finally adopted, 
most of the republican Senators refusing to vote for them. 

Early in the session Mr. Mason, of Virginia, introduced a resolution 
for appointing a committee, to investigate and report to the Senate the 
facts connected with the invasion of Virginia by John Brown and his 
followers. They summoned before them many witnesses, whom they 
examined ; but they now made report that John Brown, Jr., of Ashta- 
bnla County, Ohio, and James Redpath, of Maiden, in the State of Mas- 
sachusetts, refused to appear before the committee. They also reported 
a resolution that warrants be issued to the Sergeant-at-Arms, to take 
the witnesses and bring them before the Senate, to answer for contempt 
of its authority. 

This assumption of judicial authority by the Senate was voted for by 
Messrs. Bigler and Cameron, of Pennsylvania ; Collamer and Foot, of 
Vermont ; Dixon and Foster, of Connecticut ; Grimes and Harlan, of 
Iowa ; Doolittle, of "Wisconsin ; King and Seward, of New York ; Pugh 
and Wade, of Ohio ; Ten Eyck and Thompson, of New Jersey ; while 
only Messrs. Sumner, of Massachusetts ; Hale, of New Hampshire ; 
Bingham, of Michigan, and Toombs, of Georgia, voted against the pro- 
ceeding. 



438 CASE OF THADDEUS HYATT. 

It is certain, the Constitution had given the Senate no other judicial 
powers than such as were necessary to protect its own body. If these 
men had committed cshne or offence, they should have been indicted in 
the district where such offence was committed ; and the Senate had no 
authority to bring them from Ohio or from Massachusetts to answer in 
Washington City. If they had committed no crime, surely neither the 
Senate, nor any other branch of Government, had authority to take 
them from their homes to Washington. But the slave power demanded 
it. and northern Senators voted for it. 

IS601 ^ n tne ^ st February, Mr. Mason reported that Thaddeus 

Hyatt, of Massachusetts, had refused to appear before the com- 
mittee and give testimony, and he presented a resolution requiring 
the Vice-President to issue his warrant to the Sergeant-at-Arms, com- 
manding him to take said Hyatt into custody and bring him to the bar 
of the Senate. Mr. Hale now stated his reasons for voting against the 
resolution, showing that the duties of the Senate under the Constitution 
were purely legislative, with no other judicial authority than to preserve 
order in its own body and protect itself against intruders. 

Mr. Pugh, of Ohio, stated that he had investigated the subject 
since the former vote, and had come to the conclusion that no such 
powers vested in the Senate ; and Mr. Chesnut, of South Carolina ; 
Clark, of New Hampshire ; Durkee, of Wisconsin ; Hamlin, of Maine ; 
Wade, of Ohio, now changed positions, and voted with Mr. Pugh 
against this usurpation of undelegated powers. But the motion pre- 
vailed. 

This usurpation by the Senate brought about the most important 
conflict between the State and National Governments that has occurred ; 
but, being done at the instance of the slave power, it occasioned but 
little agitation among the people. 

1860] On the 10th April, Mr. Sumner presented the memorial of F. 

B. Sanborn, of Concord, Massachusetts, setting forth that on the 
3d April, certain persons who had been prowling about his neighborhood, 
under shelter of night, by a fraudulent pretence, drew him to his door, 
seized, handcuffed, and, by force, attempted to convey him to a carriage ; 
that by the efforts of a refined lady the neighbors were aroused, the 
bells rung, and the kidnappers were delayed until a writ of habeas corpus 
was obtained : that he was then taken before Chief Justice Shaw, of 
that Commonwealth, who, without going into the question of jurisdiction, 
decided that the Sergeant-at-Arms could not delegate his authority to 
any other person : and the memorialist asked redress for the outrage to 
which he had been subjected. 



CASE OF F. B. SANBOKN. 439 

Mr. Mason said that Sanborn had been rescued by a mob. 
On presenting the memorial, Mr. Sumner remarked that Mr. Sanborn 
was a teacher, of high respectability, and as the Senate had caused his 
rights to be outraged, it was proper that suitable redress should be 
awarded him. The petition was finally laid on the table. 

On the 13th April, Mr. Sumner presented authenticated documents 
in the case of Mr. Sanborn, showing the writ of habeas corpus, the return 
thereon, and the entire record ; which, being read, he referred to the 
remark of Mr. Mason, made on the 10th, saying Sanborn had been res- 
cued by a mob, and characterized the remark in appropriate terms, and 
moved a reference of the papers to the proper committee. 

Mr. Mason moved to reject them, and in the course of debate, it was 
made to appear that Governor "Wise, of Virginia, had stated in a letter 
to the Senate, that he had satisfactory evidence that a plan existed 
in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other States, to invade Virginia, and 
northern Senators were anxious to summon him before them to learn 
the source frVnn whence the evidence was derived. Southern Senators 
refused to call him before the Senate, and it was more than inti- 
mated that the refusal was dictated by a wish to save Mr. Wise from 
the disgrace which must attend the exposure of his attempt to alarm 
the public. 

Senators began to understand that men of intelligence intended to 
test the constitutionality of their proceedings before the bar of the peo- 
ple ; and they became more deliberate in their movements, and Mr. 
Mason withdrew his motion to reject, and the papers were referred. But 
as the committee had been selected by slaveholders, they retained the 
papers in perpetual silence. 

The Sergeaut-at-Arms made report that, in pursuance of the warrant 
of the Speaker, he had arrested Thaddeus Hyatt, and now held him in 
custody. 

Mr. Mason moved a resolution that the Speaker inquire of Hyatt — 
1st. What excuse have you for not appearing before the committee, to 
o-ive testimony ? 2d. Are you now ready to testify ? The resolution was 
adopted ; and Hyatt, saying he was not prepared to answer, was re- 
manded to prison. 

On the 9th March, he was again brought up, and the President of the 
Senate inquired with great formality—" Mr. Hyatt, are you now ready 
to answer the questions propounded by order of the Senate ?" 

Mr. Hyatt answered—" Yes, sir, I am. I have my answer here, but 
am not able to read it. I hope the Clerk will read it for me." 

Mr. Mason said he had read the answer, which denied the authority 



440 THE COMMITTEE REPORT. 

of the Senate of the United States, by process, to invade the domicile or 
arrest peaceful citizens charged with no crime. 

2d. That the Senate were bound to legislate upon matters which they 
deemed necessary ; but had no authority to compel citizens from distant 
States to appear before them to give information as to their duties on 
any subject 

The answer was read at length, and the question of disposing of the 
prisoner was next presented. He was, however, remanded to the cus- 
tody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the next morning Mr. Mason pre- 
sented a resolution, committing Hyatt to the jail of Washington for 
contempt of the Senate, until he should express a willingness to 
testify. 

The subject of jurisdiction was fully discussed, and Hyatt was com- 
mitted by a vote of 44 to 10 — Messrs. Bingham, Dixon, Hale, Hamlin, 
Sumner, Harlan, Simmons, Toombs, and Wade, voting against the com- 
mitment. The jailer, being governed by law, could not recognize the 
commitment as coming from any legalized source ; but he received 
■ Hyatt, gave him a comfortable room, which was supplied with good 
parlor furniture ; and, the prisoner being a man of wealth, obtained the 
most recent publications, and occupied his time agreeably as he could 
under the circumstances. 

1S60 , The Senate now found itself powerless to carry out their designs 
by imprisoning Hyatt. They had turned aside from their con- 
stitutional duties to compel the witness to testify what he knew of 
Brown's invasion of Virginia ; and while in conversation he declared 
that he knew nothing, yet he determined to refuse saying so — under 
senatorial process. The Senate could not torture him — they could not 
fine him — nor could they induce him to testify. 

On the 25th June, the committee appointed to inquire into the cir- 
cumstances connected with the raid of John Brown made their report. 
But Hyatt was yet in prison. Mr. Sumner had previously presented a 
petition numerously signed by colored men, asking his release. The 
petition was referred, and the committee reported it back, with a re- 
commendation that the Secretary hand it to the Senator who presented it. 
But a majority of the Senate were not prepared to sustain the proposed 
insult, and the report was laid on the table, and Mr. Hyatt was dis- 
charged. 

The committee, in reporting upon the subject for which it had been 
raised, frankly admitted that they could trace no knowledge of the in- 
vasion to any other persons than to Brown and his followers. 

But this invasion of Virginia struck the entire slaveholding population 



KANSAS APPLIES FOE ADMISSION. 441 

with horror. It brought the subject of slavery and the horrors of slave 
insurrections before the people of the country in a practical point of 
view, and gave slaveholders to understand that they were not free from 
danger, when their enemies were provoked too far. 

Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, introduced a bill in the Senato for punish- 
ing offences against slave property in the Territories ; but it was not 
debated, and attracted but little attention. 

Bills were introduced for the more effectual suppression of the African 
slave trade ; and petitions were presented praying Congress to abolish 
slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia and in the Ter- 
ritories of the United States ; against the admission of any more slave 
States ; and against the employment of slaves by government. Most of 
these were laid upon the table without debate. 

The constitution of Kansas, recently adopted by the people of that 
territory, was now presented to both Houses of Congress, with an appli- 
cation for admission to the Union as a State. The subject was referred, 
and a bill for the admission reported, debated, passed the House of 
Representatives, and was sent to the Senate for concurrence. 

Iu the Senate there was great resistance to the admission, as it would 
increase the number of free States ; and so determined was the opposi- 
tion, that the bill was yet pending before the Senate at the adjourn- 
ment. 

Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, introduced a bill early in the session declaring 
all laws of New Mexico establishing, authorizing, or protecting involun- 
tary servitude void. All southern members voted against this bill, 
together with Messrs. Thayer, of Massachusetts j John Cochrane, 
Haskin, aud Reynolds, of New York ; Adrian and Riggs, of New 
Jersey ; Burch and Scott, of California ; Cooper, of Michigan ; Florence, 
Montgomery, and Schwartz, of Pennsylvania ; Howard, Martin, Pendle- 
ton, and Yallandigham, of Ohio ; Davis, Holman, and Niblack, of Indi- 
ana ; Larrabee, of Wisconsin ; Logan, Morris, and Robinson, of Illinois ; 
aud Stout, of Oregon. These twenty-four northern members were un- 
willing to give liberty to the slaves of that territory. But the bill passed 
the House of Representatives by a majority of seven votes. 

A bill from the Senate to prohibit the African slave trade was sub- 
jected to a protracted debate in the House. That provision of the bill 
which authorized the support of the recaptured victims of that com- 
merce for a certain time after being rescued from the slavedealers was 
objected to as unconstitutional ; but it passed the House by 1'22 votes to 
56 against it. 

On all questions touching slavery, slaveholders appeared to graduate 



442 AN" IMPORTANT BILL DEFEATED. 

their moral principles by the latitude in which they lived. Thus, in 
Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri most slaveholding members voted 
to abolish the African slave trade, while those from South Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, usually voted 
against every attempt to put down that piratical traffic. 
1S60 A bill providing for the general organization of territorial gov- 

ernments, excluding slavery therefrom, was debated for some time 
in the House of Representatives ; but Mr. Thayer, of Massachusetts, 
elected as a Republican, united with Mr. Douglas and his followers to 
prevent any action on this subject, and by the assistance of those called 
Conservatives defeated the bill. 

The perseverance with which the slave power always pressed the 
claims of southern men for the loss of slaves was well illustrated during 
this session. In 1814, General Jackson entered west Florida with 
his army. He was followed by a class of desperadoes who stole negroes 
from the inhabitants ; but no one then pretended that Government 
was in any way responsible for these acts. 

In 1818, General Jackson, in prosecuting the first Seminole war 
again invaded Florida, and in order to support his army, took posses- 
sion of all provisions which fell in his way. 

By the ninth article of our treaty with Spain, in 1820, the American 
Government agreed to indemnify the Spanish officers and inhabitants of 
Florida for such injuries as they had sustained by the late American 
army. There was at that time no doubt entertained in regard to this 
stipulation. All appear to have understood it as applying to the late 
army, or the army of 1818. 

But the people who had lost slaves and property in 1814 soon after 
applied for indemnity, and their claims were rejected. They then peti- 
tioned Congress, but obtained no relief. They next called on the Trea- 
sury Department, and Mr. Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury, was 
said to have decided favorably upon this class of claims, and that some 
ten thousand dollars were paid on them before he learned that they had 
been previously rejected. 

The claimants again called on Congress, and the memorials were 
referred to the Committee on " Indian Affairs," who made an elaborate 
report, with a bill for their payment. But when it came up for investi- 
gation, in 1843, Mr. Adams gave such an expose" of its demerits that 
only thirty-three members voted for it. 

After the lapse of a few years they were presented to the Court of 
Claims, where they were again rejected. But now, after forty-six years 
had gone by, they were presented to the Senate, and a very elaborate 



DEFEAT OF ME. BLAKE's RESOLUTION. 443 

report was made in favor of paying them. There was, however, strong 
opposition to the bill, which was postponed to the next session.* 

Mr. Blake, of Ohio, presented to the House a preamble and resolu- 
tion, in the following words ■ 

" Whereas, The chattelizing of humanity, and holding of persons as 
property, is contrary to national justice and the fundamental principles 
of our political system, and is notoriously a reproach to our country 
throughout the civilized world, and a serious hindrance to the progress 
of republican liberty among the nations of the earth ; therefore 

" Resolved,, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to in- 
quire into the expediency of reporting a bill giving freedom to every 
human being, and interdicting slavery wherever Congress has the con- 
stitutional power to legislate on that subject." 

This resolution was resisted by every member from the slave States, 
and by Messrs. French, of Maine ; Thayer, of Massachusetts ; Barr, 
Briggs, John Cochrane, and Kenyon, of New York; Campbell, Florence, 
Hickman, Montgomery, Morris, McKnight, McPherson, Millward, 
Schwartz, and Scranton, of Pennsylvania ; Riggs and Nixon, of New 
Jersey ; Allen, Cox, Martin, Trimble, and Vallandigham, of Ohio ; 
Davis, Dunn, Hughs, and Niblack, of Indiana ; Fouke, Logan, Morris, 
and Robinson, of Illinois. 

The resolution was in exact accordance with the platform to which 
every true Republican was committed ; yet out of the one hundred and 
seventeen Republicans who voted for the Speaker only sixty, or little 
more than half the real number, voted for this resolution ; and it was 
defeated by one hundred and nine votes in the negative. 

This want of harmony among the Republicans grew out of the dif- 
ferent opinions entertained by the members. Men who had long acted 
with the whig party, under the conviction that its policy and principles 
were correct, found themselves abandoned by their associates with whom 
they had long acted, and were constrained to unite with Republicans or 
remain isolated from political society. Coming into the republican 
organization, they sought to change the party with whom they united 
rather than admit that they had been wrong in former times. 

Another class were office seekers. They had opposed the republican 
organization until they saw its success was inevitable. They then joined 
it ; but this occurred as it were at the eleventh hour, and they could 
not assume a leading position while admitting themselves to be follow- 



* Probably the secession of the slave States saved the Treasury from the eventual payment of 
these claims. 



4-14 DIFFICULTIES IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

ers. These men were desirous of adopting some other policy, iu order 
that they might lead in its support. 

1S60 They songht to draw off public attention from the great issue 

which had been formed between the Republicans and Demo- 
crats, upon the primal truths of the Declaration of Independence ; not 
because those doctrines were wrong, but for the reason that they had not 
led in their avowal. All these men believed the people too ignorant and 
too depraved to maintain a free and just government. They asserted 
and constantly maintained that wrong, injustice, corruption, and crime 
were necessary to support any form of government. This theory charac- 
terized the democratic party. They held it was necessary to maintain 
slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia in order to sup- 
port the Union. Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster, Mr. Fillmore and his 
Cabinet, all held that it was necessary for northern men to seize and 
return to slavery those who were fleeing to a land of liberty. This out- 
rage upon human nature was perhaps the most revolting crime which 
men could commit against their fellow-men; yet leading "Whigs and lead- 
ing Democrats asserted that it' was necessary that the people of the free 
States should commit it in order to save the Union. 

The friends of liberty saw clearly that their danger arose from malcon- 
tents within the republican organization. They had no fears of the demo- 
cratic party. They were open and frank iu the avowal of political crimes, 
and reflecting men knew that all honest, patriotic adherents of truth 
and justice must oppose them so long as the then existing issue was 
adhered to. 

The author was then in private life, but he saw clearly the efforts 
making to modify the issue between the Democrats and Republicans 
in order to render it less distinct. To meet those efforts he sought 
the appointment of delegate to the Chicago Convention for nomi- 
nating President and Vice-President. He said publicly that his object 
was to induce the republican party to adhere to its doctrines, to 
stand firmly upon the issue which had been formed. On reaching 
Chicago, he found a large hall where thousands were convened. 
Other speakers argued in favor of their respective candidates, but the 
writer at once avowed that the maintenance of principle should constitute 
the object of the convention. That parties were a deception when they 
ceased to represent principles. That all ought to support the doctrines 
enunciated iu the Declaration of Independence, and repeated by the Re- 
publicans at the Philadelphia Convention. He also made known to the 
delegates of his State that he wished to serve on the Committee of Re- 
solutions, as he had done at Philadelphia when the party was formed, 



DIFFICULTIES IN TIIE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 445 

and that his object was to induce the committee and the convention to adhere 
to republican principles. 

But the delegation appointed another gentleman who had not been 
known to the public as an adherent of these principles. The committee 
reported a series of resolutions declamatory in their character, assailing 
the democratic party, and disapproving the extension of slavery into 
free territory, but entirely omitting all reference to the elementary 
truths enunciated in 1856. 

The report being read, the author proposed an amendment, reasserting 
the " self-evident truths" of the Declaration of Independence. Its adop- 
tion was opposed by Mr. Carter, of Ohio ; Mr. Thayer, of Massa- 
chusetts ; and a gentleman from Indiana. But no other member rose 
to sustain the amendment, and it was rejected. 

Unwilling to sit in a convention that hesitated to reassert the primal 
truths on which the Government was founded, the author left the hall. 
\ he went to his lodgings, gentlemen from different States accompanied 
him, wishing to have another convention called of men who would abide 
bn the doctrines of the Government. But while conversing on the subject, 
Mr. Curtiss, of New York, offered, substantially, the same amendmeut, 
and sustained it by an able speech. Mr. Nye, of that State, also sup- 
ported it, and it was adopted ; and, on being informed of this fact, the 
author and his friends resumed their seats in the convention. 

As these movements stand connected with important historic , 1S6|) 
events, it is deemed proper to place them in detail before the 
reader. 

Among all the candidates for President, only one had been numbered 
among the advocates of freedom previous to the convention at Philadel- 
phia in 1856. Mr. Chase, of Ohio, had been an early advocate of 
human rights. 

As it was evident that the Republicans must succeed, the friends of 
the various candidates urged the claims of their favorites, and all were 
anxious to pledge themselves and their candidates to stand by the doc- 
trines of the party. But men had arrayed themselves so strongly in 
favor of one and against the others, that it was found necessary to select 
one against whom there was comparatively little prejudice. Mr. Lincoln, 
of Illinois, was nominated. He was literally a self-made man, a native 
of Kentucky, possessing an intellect of unusual astuteness, and of unim- 
pe uable integrity. He had served one term in Congress, but was 
evi Mitly destitute of that experience in public life which was neces- 
sary to qualify a man for the Presidential office. His early training and 
habiis of thought had led him to believe the slaveholder had some moral 



446 NOMINATION OF MR. LINCOLN. 

or legal right to the services of his slave ; and although an eloquent 
advocate of liberty, it appeared difficult for him to believe that the 
right to life and liberty had been bestowed on black men equally 
with the white race. But from his candor, his frankness, and integrity, 
the anti-slavery men had confidence that he would respect their 
principles in due time. 

, In all former presidential elections, members of Congress had given, 
direction to the public mind in regard to candidates. But Mr. Lincoln 
had very little congressional support, and his nomination was received in 
Washington with wonder and surprise. But the members generally sup- 
ported Mm. 

The importance of this election did not consist so much in the devo- 
tion of the republican party to the great doctrines of liberty, as in the 
fact that the nomination and election resulted from the independent 
action of men who refused to be controlled by the slave power. Pro- 
bably hundreds of thousands voted with the republican party under the 
expectation of success, caring Utile for the slave. 

The democratic party, as had been foreseen, could not effectually re- 
sist the power of moral principle. Southern members of the party were 
# anxious that the slaveholding constitution of Kansas should be received 
by Congress, and the State admitted without submitting the adoption 
of it to the people of the territory. 

Northern leaders saw clearly that such policy must result in the 
overthrow of their organization. Southern statesmen demanded that 
Congress should legislate for the protection of slavery in the Terri- 
tories. The northern members refused to adopt that doctrine, urging 
that the people of the territory may either admit or reject slavery, as 
they pleased. 

Thus was the party divided, and when their delegates assembled at 
Charleston Tor the purpose of nominating candidates for President and 
Vice-President, they were unable to agree upon a platform of principles, 
and separated into different conventions, and nominated different candi- 
dates. The northern portion of the party united on Mr. Douglas, and 
those of the South on Mr. Breckinridge. This division of the demo- 
cratic organization left no doubt of their defeat, and the election of Mr. 
Lincoln was rather a matter of form than the solution of a doubtful 
question. 

The slave power, by the exercise of its influence, had elected 

Mr. Jefferson in 1800, and had dictated the election of every 

subsequent President up to that of Mr. Lincoln, in 1860, except that of 

Mr. Adams, in 1824. And in the election of Mr. Adams the question 



THE FOECE OF TEUTII TEIUMPHANT. 447 

of slavery was not distinctly involved, nor was he elected in opposition 
to the slave power. 

But now the victory was obtained by the force of truth operating 
upon the popular mind. During the canvass there was no political 
strategy, no disguising of principles, no subterfuge, no metaphysical 
theories to deceive or mislead the people. It was achieved by the open 
avowal and undisguised maintenance of "self-evident truths." The 
r< -ult constituted an era in Christian statesmanship. The old theory 
of politicians had been discarded. The dictation of the slave power 
had been repudiated. The Government was to be regenerated and 
redeemed, when the existing Administration should close its consti- 
tutional term of service. 



443 PREPARATORY MEASURES FOR REBELLION. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

STATE OF FEELING AFTER THE ELECTION OFFICIAL MENDACITY OF PRESI- 
DENT BUCHANAN FEELING IN CONGRESS — PROPOSITIONS OF MR. CRITTEN- 
DEN WITHDRAWAL OF SOUTH CAROLINA HER DECLARATION OF CAUSES 

SHE SENDS DELEGATES TO WASHINGTON A CONTENTION OF DELEGATES 

FROM THE FREE AND BORDER STATES INAUGURATION OF THE REBELLION 

AND CLOSE OF THE DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION. 

„. The expectation that the Republicans would elect their candi- 

J.0OU.J 

date to the Presidency, had led several of the southern States to 
take preparatory measures for inaugurating the rebellion ; but when 
the result was known, the pending storm appeared to gather more 
rapidly. Congress was about to assemble, and in order that South 
Carolina should not be misunderstood, her two Senators resigned their 
positions, and refused to take seats in the body of which they had been 
members. Governor Letcher, of Virginia, in his message to the Legis- 
lature, declared that the administration of Mr. Lincoln could not and 
would not be submitted to. Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida 
also began to make public demonstrations in favor of rebellion. 

At the reassembling of the twenty-sixth Congress, the members found 
themselves surrounded by novel and interesting circumstances. The 
voice of the people had been uttered in favor of equal rights, and equal 
justice to all men. They had emphatically repudiated the heathenish 
dogma that " black men have no rights that white men are bound to 
respect." Nor was this vote of the people less a repudiation of the men 
who held such barbarous doctrines. It was quite obvious that the policy 
of sustaining slavery could no longer control the Government. States- 
men of experience, looking through the vista of coming events, read the 
doom of oppression, which now appeared to be written upon the 
moral world around us. 

But a hallucination appeared to have seized upon the southern 
mind. The advocates of slavery constituted the only persons in exist- 
ence who believed that slavery could survive a civil war : yet they 
appeared to think that insurrection alone would sustain the institution. 
They insisted, however, that the free States had always yielded to the 
demands of the South, and that the people of the North would give up 
the administration of government to southern hands rather than see the 



THE CHANGE IN THE PUBLIC MIND. 449 

Union dissolved. No southern man appeared to have the least idea that 
the people of the free States would ever meet them in armed hostility, 
rather than surrender the Government and their liberties to the keeping 
of slaveholders. Indeed, northern Democrats and some northern presses 
proposed that the Republicans should give up the administration of 
government to southern oligarchs, and that the President elect should 
quietly retire to private life. 

Old men who had long served in the whig and democratic parties 
were astonished at the change. They had never dreamed that there was 
an inherent, immutable power in truth and justice. They felt that Messrs. 
Clay, and Webster, and Cass, and Calhoun, and Fillmore, and their 
associates, were truly the greatest men, and the ablest statesmen of the 
world : That under their influence, the interests of slavery had controlled 
the Government, in its days of apparent prosperity : they saw no evils 
in the fugitive slave act, nor in the slave trade, or iu slavery on the high 
seas, in the District of Columbia, or in our Territories. They believed 
it necessary to sustain the slave trade to pay the debts of Texas, to wage 
a war with Mexico and butcher her people, in order that we might 
prosper ; and they were overwhelmed with surprise that the people 
should desire a change of policy. Nor was this feeling uncommon. It 
pervaded all classes to a greater or less extent ; even professed Republi- 
cans were unconscious of the responsibility now thrown upon their 
party. 

President Buchanan was an old man. rfe had served during his 
political life in the democratic party, and was supposed to truly repre- 
sent the voice of those who continued to act with him. 

In his annual message, he called attention to the disaffection of the 
South. With mendacious effrontery he asserted that the hostility of the 
South had arisen from " the long continued and intemperate interference 
of the northern people with the question of slavery in the southern 
States." This assertion had been so often put forth by irresponsible 
politicians and members of Congress that the President, although con- 
scious of its falsity, did not probably think it would be exposed : but he 
as well as the writer had long moved in public life, and must have 
known that no member of Congress, or public man, or man of character, 
had ever offered or presented a resolution, or bill, or memorial, or speech, 
or proposition to interfere with slavery in the States. The author 
speaks with some earnestness on this subject : conscious that for many 
years he was regarded as the most radical, the most ultra- republican 
and anti-slavery man who served in Congress, he appeals to the records 
of that body as showing conclusively that at all times, under all circum- 

29 



450 VARIOUS EFFORTS TO SAVE THE UNION. 

stances, he denied for himself and friends the constitutional power to 
interfere in time of peace with the institution in the States. But this 
declaration of the President greatly encouraged southern rebels, as*~it 
led them to cherish the expectation that the democratic party would 
unite with them in carrying out the rebellion. 

Soon as the message had been read in the House, Mr. Boteler, a slave- 
holder of Virginia, moved to refer so much of it as related to the 
perilous condition of the country to a committee of one member from 
each State. The motion prevailed by a vote of 145 in the affirmative 
to 38 in the negative. 

Unfortunately the Speaker, through timidity, or from not knowing 
the character of the members, appointed at the head of this important 
committee Mr. Corwin, of Ohio, who had served in Mr. Fillmore's 
Cabinet ; and had ever approved and advocated the fugitive slave act, 
and all those measures of Congress in favor of slavery, which were so 
offensive to the lovers of liberty ; and a large majority of the committee 
were either slaveholders or supporters of the slaveholding policy. They 
made several reports, one of which was in favor of a more stringent 
fugitive slave enactment, and for the adoption of further compromises 
on the part of the free States, which, although rejected by the House, 
served to increase the confidence of southern men that the northern 
people would surrender to the demands of the South. 

The Representatives and Senators of Virginia, with an air of importance, 
now proposed to act as mediators between the North and South, in order 
" to save the Union." But every suggestion coming from them, merely 
indicated that the people of the free States should make further sur- 
renders, and give further guarantees to slavery. 

To these suggestions northern Democrats generally assented, while 
Republicans listened to them in silence. 

Various propositions were offered to the consideration of the Senate 
and of the House for amending the Constitution. Some proposed to 
divide the territory, and make it the duty of Congress to support liberty 
north of a certain line, and slavery south of it. Some proposed to 
amend the Constitution, so that the United States should pay the owners 
of fugitive slaves the value of those who should escape, thus taxing the 
people of the free States to support slavery. Others proposed to pay 
the master from the funds of the State to which the slave might 
flee. But every proposition for amending the Constitution or laws, 
had for its object further surrender of northern rights. That which 
attracted most attention and commanded most influence, was presented 
to the Senate by Hon. John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky. He proposed 



r'o 



MB. CRITTENDEN S PROPOSITIONS. 451 

snch an amendment of the Constitution as would establish slavery 
south of 36 deg. 30 mm. north latitude, and maintain freedom north 
of that line. 

2d. That Congress should have no power to abolish slavery in any 
place under its exclusive jurisdiction ; should not interfere with slavery 
or the slave trade in the District of Columbia while the State of Mary- 
land should continue the institution : And that the owners of slaves 
might transport them from one State to another by land or water. 
This would give them the right of transit through the free States, and in 
fact would render every State a slaveholding government. 

3d. That payment of the value of fugitive slaves should be made from 
the public treasury whenever they should be rescued or assisted to 
escape. 

These {impositions were in most singular contrast with the President's 
message, in which he asserted that all which the slave States demanded 
was " to be let alone." While these false assertions of the President were 
before the two Houses of Congress, every proposition from members re- 
presenting slave States or from northern Democrats, demanded further 
concession, farther yielding of northern rights, further support of slavery 
from the northern people : Every proposition was in direct antagonism 
with the essential principles of liberty and justice set forth in the Decla- 
ration of Independence ; and not one of them could be adopted and car- 
ried into effect without overthrowing the vital doctrines on which the 
Government had been founded. 

On the 21st December, the Representatives of South Carolina, fl86 
by a written communication addressed to the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, announced that the people of that State had 
resumed the powers delegated to the Federal Government, and took 
final leave of Congress. 

In professing to withdraw from the Union, South Carolina, through 
her convention, asserted that by the compact expressed in the fourth 
article of the Constitution, the several States stipulated to return fugi- 
tive slaves ; that fourteen of those States had failed to perform their 
several covenants in this respect : Yet every Senator and Repre- 
sentative of that State had voted in favor of exercising the ungracious 
task of capturing and returning fugitive slaves ly the Federal Govern- 
ment. Indeed, the then existing fugitive act was reported by Sena- 
tor Butler, of that State, and the Supreme Court, in accordance 
with southern views, had decided that all State laws on the subject 
were void. 

This failure to capture and return fugitive slaves by northern citi- 



4-52 CAUSES OF THE SEPARATION. 

.zens now constituted the leading and principal cause avowed by 
South Carolina for dissolving the Union which her people had sworn to 
support. 

The next cause assigned was, that the people of the free States de- 
nied the right of property in human flesh : and the assertion of this 
principle, taught by Christianity, enforced by our Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and emphatically asserted by the Constitution, was proclaimed 
by the people of South Carolina as sufficient cause for separating from 
the Government instituted by our fathers. 

The next cause assigned was the agitation of the slave question by 
the people of the free States. Perhaps nothing better illustrates the 
feeling of despotism which ruled our slave States, than this idea of de- 
nying to northern people the right to speak their sentiments on all moral 
and political questions. The right had been most solemnly guaranteed 
by the Constitution, while its exercise furnished South Carolina with a 
supposed vindication for separating from the Union. 

The next and last cause of complaint was, that some of the northern 
States had elevated to citizenship persons (blacks) whom the people of 
South Carolina declared were incapable of becoming such under the 
Constitution. This assertion, however, was sustained alone by the dicta 
of slave States, for surely the Constitution of the United States had made 
no distinction on account of complexion. Not a word, or sentence, or 
thought in this declaration of causes which impelled South Carolina to 
the separation, has allusion to any subject but slavery. No other sub- 
ject was alluded to as furnishing any cause of complaint : And it is be- 
lieved that this constituted the first instance in the history of the world 
where a people have revolted against a government on account of its devo- 
tion to liberty. None of the other seceding States based their vindication 
upon any other than this general charge : that the people of the free- 
States had been and were opposed to the despotism of slavery. 

Representatives and Senators from all the cotton-growing States, now 
held towards the Government the language of defiance and in frequent 
instances that of contempt. Northern Representatives appeared paral- 
ized under these insane demonstrations : While northern Democrats and 
members calling themselves Conservatives, were active in their efforts to 
adopt such measures as the advocates of slavery demanded. 

In perfect keeping with the doctrine that frauds and crime are neces- 
sary to support governments, it was at this time ascertained that the 
Indian Trust Fund had been robbed by the action of the Secretary 
of "War and the Secretary of the Interior, of some eight hundred 
thousand dollars ; but this gigantic peculation seemed to have no 



SECESSION RESISTED BY FORCE. 453 

influence in attaching those who committed it to the support of the 
Government. 

Several individuals now appeared in Washington, claiming to be a 
delegation from South Carolina, openly proposing to treat with the Pre- 
sident for the surrender of forts and arsenals belonging to the Federal 
Government situated upon the coast of that State. Instead of impris- 
oning these traitors, the President entered into a written correspondence 
with them, surrendered up to the people of South Carolina forts, arsenals, 
custom-houses, and post-offices situated within the jurisdiction of thai 
State. He also permitted the Secretary of War to transport arms, ammu- 
nition, and the paraphernalia of war, from northern arsenals to those of 
the South, and. they were delivered to the custody of men known to be 
engaged in treasonable designs against the Government. 

These acts were so flagrant that Secretary Cass, finding his own re] ci- 
tation in danger by his association with the Executive, resigned the 
Treasury Department, refusing longer to be identified with an Adminis- 
tration which he had assisted to elect, and with which he had been asso- 
ciated from its inauguration. 

An ordgr from the Secretary of War for the removal of some seventy 
pieces of ordnance from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to Mississippi, was 
resisted by a popular demonstration in that city. This constituted the 
first manifestation of force in resisting the progress of rebellion. But in 
consequence of this display of the popular feeling the order was revoked, 
and the guns remained in Pennsylvania. 

While these scenes were being enacted, Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, 
faithful to his Government as well as to his own reputation, intro- 
duced a resolution instructing the select committee of thirty-three, 
appointed under Mr. Boteler's resolution, to report to the House such 
additional legislation as they might deem necessary to put down the 
rebellion. 

Mr. Morris, a Democrat, of Illinois, offered a proposition that' the 
members unite in a solemn assertion of their devotion to the Govern- 
ment : And Mr. Hutchins, of Ohio, offered a resolution for protecting 
the free blacks of northern States from being enslaved by the people of 
the South. But none of these propositions were debated or voted upon. 
Indeed, the House appeared unwilling to debate or vote upon any pro- 
position that did not contemplate further surrender of northern hon'or 
and northern interests. 

Nor was the Senate either idle or silent. Soon as the message of the 
President had been read, Mr. Clingman, of North Carolina, responded 



454 CONFLICT OF OPINION. 

that its tone was eminently patriotic : But he asserted that the President 
elect was a dangerous man, and declared that he had been elected be- 
cause he was dangerous. Her spoke of the inevitable rule to which the 
republican organization was destined, and asserted that the South could 
not endure the administration of any man elected upon the principles 
enunciated by that party. 

He made no complaint of the past ; but assured the Senate that un- 
less the people of the North should give further guarantees in favor of 
slavery, several slave States would be out of the Union in ninety days. 
He was a bold man, and usually stated the position of the Republicans 
candidly, and made no scruple in demanding further guarantees of 
the North for the slaverv of the South. Indeed, most southern mem- 
bers were frank and apparently honest in demanding that the North 
should sustain their institutions, while to the President and other north- 
ern men they left the unenviable task of misrepresentation on this 
subject. 

186 , On the following morning, Senator Green, of Missouri, offered 

a resolution proposing an armed police to be stationed along 
the line separating the slave and free States, for the efficient, execution 
of the fugitive slave- act, and to preserve the peace. In debating this 
resolution, Senator Green boldly maintained that the proximate cause of 
the rebellion consisted in consecrating the soil of California to freedom, 
after it had been acquired for the purpose of extending slavery. He 
asserted the opinion that the platform on which the incoming President 
had been elected was in direct .conflict with the Constitution, and read 
a letter from Senator Doolittle to a friend, saying, " the election of Mr. 
Lincoln was indeed a great triumph ;" that we should " have no more 
congressional slave codes, no more slave territory, no more slave States," 
and the honorable Senator regarded these expressions with peculiar 
horror and bitterness. 

Mr. Hale insisted, that when analyzed, the President's message was 
found to contain three propositions. 1st. South Carolina has just cause 
to secede. 2d. She has no right to secede. 3d. The Government has 
no right to prevent secession. He declared, however, that the move- 
ments of the South meant war, and that the Senate ought to look the 
subject full in the face, and prepare to meet it. He characterized as 
traitors those northern editors who were sustaining southern secession, 
and asserted with great force that all pretence that the North had fur- 
nished any cause for secession was false and slanderous, thus exposing 
the mendacity of the annual message ; and, with becoming dignity, he 



SLAVJEHOLDIKG AREOGANCE. 455 

hoped that the incoming President would maintain the doctrines on 
which he had been elected.* 

Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, asserted that if there was to be war, the 
North must make it, as the South would not.f 

Senator Iverson, of Georgia, regarded the general hostility to slavery 
which existed among the people of the North as utterly prohibiting all 
attempts to preserve the Union ; and declared that the repeal of " per- 
sonal liberty bills" by northern Legislatures, or other concessions, would 
not induce the South to remain longer in th§ Union. But he asserted 
Inhere would be no war, and alluded in offensive language to northern 
cowardice.! 

Mr. Powell, of Virginia, as well as Mr. Crittenden, appeared to think 
that the Union could only be preserved by so amending the Constitution 
Bfl to change the essential character of the Government, making it a 
shive-sustaining confederation, instead of adapting its energies to secur- 

j liberty ; and he proposed an amendment that would secure the right 
of property in slaves ; believing such amendment necessary to save the 
Union. 

To this Mr. Iverson, of Georgia, replied that Virginia was deeply 
interested in preventing secession ; for if the cotton States seceded, 
Virginia would find no market for her slaves, without which that State 
would be ruined. To these remarks neither .Mr. Powell nor his colleague 
took exception. § 

The arrogance and self-importance of Senators representing cotton- 
growing States increased in proportion a$ northern members expressed an 
anxiety to save the Union. Their supercilious bearing was well illustrated 
by Mr. Wigfall, of Texas, who, alluding to the contemplated rebellion, 
spoke in the Senate as follows : " / say Cotton is King, and that he 
waves his sceptre not only over these thirty-three States, but over the 
island of Great Britain, and over Continental Europe. And there is 

* This is believed to be the first assertion in the Senate, after the election, of a determination to 
sustain the doctrines on which Mr. Lincoln had been elected. 

+ This was said to have been the agreement between northern and southern Democrats ; that the 
South would not commence hostilities, and that northern Democrats would prevent Republicans 
from shedding blood. And the northern democracy subsequently complained that by commencing 
a cannonade on Fort Sumter, the South violated their compact. 

t General Cass was, perhaps, better acquainted with the views and feelings of southern Demo- 
crats than any other northern man. After the rebellion broke out, he declared to the writer his 
conviction that the South would never have rebelled if they had entertained the belief that the 
northern people would have met them in arms. 

§ Virginia at that time was receiving a greater income from the rearing and selling of slaves than 
from any other object of industry ; indeed, many Virginians computed the income from the sale of 
slaves greater than that derived from all other sources. ( Vide Debates in her Convention of 
1332.) 



456 SOUTHERN GRIEVANCES STATED. ' 

not a crowned head upon that island, or upon the Continent that does 
not bend in fealty and acknowledge allegiance to that monarch." 

This was an earnest expression of the real feeling of both Senators 
and Representatives of the cotton-growing States. They really felt that 
France and England were dependent on them for the important article 
which constituted their staple product. This feeling had risen from the 
yielding of Great Britain to the demands of the slave power, and com- 
pensating our slave merchants for their human chattels lost by being 
shipwrecked on British islands. France, too, had stood with folded 
arms and witnessed the annexation of Texas ; and when officially 
informed that it was done to extend slavery, she did not even utter a 
protest in behalf of our common humanity. 

The past policy of the Government was now rapidly approaching its 
culmination. Since 1793, northern politicians and statesmen had yielded 
their interests, their rights, their honor, their constitution, to the de. 
mands of the slave power. The feeling of southern superiority had been 
fostered, flattered, strengthened, and confirmed, until it was now de- 
veloping itself in open rebellion. 

Senator Wade, of Ohio, coolly and firmly met the threats and super- 
cilious declamation of Messrs. Wigfall and Iverson, saying that the con- 
test would be nothing more than the world had often witnessed ; it 
would be merely a trial of strength between the loyal and the rebellious 
States ; that one party would be victorious, and the other would suffer 
defeat. As to the doctrines of the republican party, which had been 
denounced as unconstitutional^and under which it had been said the 
South could not live, he would merely say they were the doctrines of 
"Washington and Jefferson, and their associates, in founding the Govern- 
ment, which was organized upon these principles ; and he desired to 
understand definitely the acts of which the South complained. 

To this call of Mr. Wade, Mr. Powell, of Virginia, responded that 
Governor Dennison, of Ohio, had refused to deliver up to the Executive 
of Kentucky a man charged with stealing negroes. This language was 
understood to mean nothing more and nothing less than assisting slaves 
to escape from bondage, which was regarded by the Christian world as 
an act of humanity, and no crime. Yet Mr. Powell, and slaveholders 
generally, believed that whatever the Legislature of a slave State 
should see fit to declare " crime," the Federal Government was bound to 
regard as coming within the constitutional provision concerning "felony." 
Nor did Mr. Powell stand alone in thus basing his vindication of the 
rebellion upon gross errors of constitutional law, as all action of Con- 
gress involving the people of the free States in the expense and dis- 



NOKTHEEN rUSILLANIinTY. 457 

grace of sustaining slavery was obviously uuauthorized and unconstitu- 
tional. 

The northern mind was not prepared for the bold attempt now mak- 
ing to destroy the Union. From the adoption of the Constitution, com- 
plaints had been made that slave-catchers from southern States had kid- 
napped free colored persons in the northern portions of the Union. 
These complaints were for many years presented to Congress, but the 
Memorialists receiyed in answer directions to apply to their several State 
legislators, whose duties required them to protect their own people. Ac- 
cordingly, several northern States enacted laws for the protection of 
their free colored citizens. These enactments were now assailed by the 
successors of those members of Congress who had advised their enact- 
ment ; ami several of the free States, in consequence of denunciations of 
southern nun, changed their position, and in derogation of their own 
dignity, repealed the laws which protected the rights and liberties of 
colored citizens born among them. 

These acts of northern Legislatures strengthened the advocates of 
slavery in the conviction that the entire North would surrender every 
point which the South demanded. Southern agents iu England and 
France assured the people of those governments that there would be no 
war in the United States ; and this opinion was very generally enter- 
tained by public men in England, who could not believe that after such 
long forbearance the people of the free States would make resistance 
to the demands of the slave power.* 

Men now Baw that every argument and every effort in favor of yield- 
ing up northern interests, northern independence, and northern honor, to 
the demands of the slave power, under the specious plea of saving the 
Union, had contributed to its dissolution, by leading southern men to 
believe the northern States were entirely subservient to the interests of 
the South. 

On the 12th January, the Representatives from Mississippi, by , iggl 
a written communication addressed to the Speaker of the House, 
informed the country that their State had withdrawn from the con" 
federacy ; but on the 14th, Mr. Brown, of that State, informed the 
Senate that he and his colleague had not received official notice of the 
withdrawal of their State ; but they would no longer participate in the 
business of the Senate. 

Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana, now followed these exam- 
ples of secession which were rapidly precipitating the nation into civil war. 

* This remark is made upon the authority of intelligent Englishmen, with whom the author met 
in the years 1361-2. 



458 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION PKOPOSED. 

On the 2 8 Hi January, the President communicated to the two Houses 
of Congress resolutions of the State of Virginia, proposing a convention 
of delegates from the various States to meet in Washington City " for 
the purpose of agreeing upon such compromises as were consistent with 
the Constitution, so as to afford the people of the slaveholding States ade- 
quate guarantees for security of their rights.'" 

This suirax'stion of a convention unknown to the Constitution was 

CO 

itself revolutionary. But the call upon the free States to give security 
for their abiding by the Constitution was regarded by men of spirit as 
insulting to their dignity. Yet some of the executive officers of free 
States were so anxious to exert every instrumentality to save the 
Union, that they appointed delegates, and finally all the free States 
yielded to this supercilious call of Virginia to appear in national con- 
vention to consult on such further guarantees for the support of. 
slavery as would satisfy those States who had already proclaimed 
their departure from the Union. And while South Carolina was 
actually gathering and disciplining her army, erecting fortifications, and 
preparing for hostilities, delegates from the free States gravely met in 
convention at Washington City, to consult on such further humiliation 
as would satisfy the demands of the slave power. The character of a 
majority of the delegates to this convention was well illustrated by the 
choice of John Tyler, of Virginia, to preside over their deliberations. 
His name had become odious to the lovers of liberty from his efforts to 
obtain compensation for the slavedealevs who lost their bondmen on 
board the " Creole," in 1840, his approval of the gag-rules, his apostacy 
from the party who elected him, his labors in favor of the annexation 
of Texas, and his uniform devotion to slavery. 

By the selection of such a man to preside over its proceedings, the 
convention lost all prestige, and after several weeks a majority of its 
members advised the regularly constituted Congress to recommend 
the State Legislatures to agree to such amendments of the Federal 
Constitution as would secure the master a compensation for his fugitive 
slave when assisted to escape, or when rescued : To establish slavery 
in all our Territories south of 36 deg. 30 min., north latitude : To 
secure the admission of any slave State that may apply to become a 
member of the Union : To prohibit Congress from abolishing slavery 
in the District of Columbia, or the coastwise slave trade. 

These propositions were transmitted to the two Houses of Congress for 
approval, but were rejected unceremoniously by the Senate ; nor were 
they treated with greater respect by the House of Representatives. 

Senator Seward had been a candidate for nomination of President 



MR. SEWAKD ON THE QUESTION OF UNION. 459 

before the convention at Chicago, and received the highest vote of any 
candidate except the President elect. From this circumstance it was 
generally expected that he would be selected as Secretary of State 
under the incoming Administration. lie was regarded as possessing a 
high order of talents. During the Presidential campaign he had spoken 
boldly in favor of freedom ; and the advocates of liberty generally 
bettered him a firm supporter of the doctrines which all regarded as 
vital to the support of a free government. Under these circumstances he 

expected to foreshadow the policy of the incoming President ; and 
great interest was manifested to hear him. On the 12th January, 
while speaking on the President's Message, he referred to various expe" 

ts for saving the Union, which had failed. He next referred to the 
advantages resulting from the " Union," by which term he appeared to 
refer to the association of States and of the power of their concentrated 
influence : But he seemed to avoid all reference to the " essential 
truths," i>n which the States confederated ; which constituted the moral 
entity called the " Union ;" without which the association would not 
been funned and could not have exited. Nor did he speak of the 
primal objects and ulterior designs of those who founded the Govern- 
ment, lie manifested a strong desire that the States should main- 
tain their alliance with each other ; but he expressed no wish to main- 
tain the essential truths on which the association had been formed. 
He -aid, somewhat oracularly, "Republicanism is not Union ; Demo- 
cracy is not Union — Republicanism is subordinate to Union as everything 
else is and ought to be. Republicanism, Democracy, every other political 
11-anw ami thing — all are subordinate, and they ought to disappear in t/ie 
presence of the great question of Union, and so far as I Ail concerned, it 



SHALL BE SO." 



For seventy years the slave power had endeavored to exclude all 
democratic, all republican principles from the administration of govern- 
ment, in order to render it a slaveholding oligarchy. For twenty-five 
years the advocates of reform had labored to restore the Government to 
those republican and democratic principles on which the fathers founded 
it. A party distinctly avowing these doctrines had been formed ; had 
grown up ; had elected a majority of the Senate and of the House of 
Representatives. They had elevated the President elect to the highest 
office of the nation, with the full expectation that he would support the 
principles avowed by them ; but Mr. Seward now declared, that so far 
as he was concerned, these doctrines should be discarded in order to save 
the Umon, which had already been transformed to au insupportable des- 
potism under slaveholding influence. Republicans would not believe 



460 THE PEACE CONGRESS AND THE CONFEDERACY. 

that he spoke the views and feelings of the President elect, nor would 
they admit that he intended the ordinary import of his own language. 
Others were uncharitable. They quoted the language of Mr. Iverson, 
who had openly declared that there would be no war ; that " the far- 
reaching satesmanship of the Senator from New York would prevent a 
war," and suggested that the two Senators were acting in concert. It 
is certain that many republican Senators entirely dissented from the 
policy enunciated by Mr. Seward ; and this difference of opinion con- 
tinued and became still more distinct after that gentleman assumed the 
duties of Secretary of State. Another point in this address was quite 
unsatisfactory to Republicans. That party had laid it down as a uni- 
versal principle that every human being holds from the Creator an impre- 
scriptible right to live and enjoy liberty. The Supreme Court, on be- 
half of the democratic party, denied this doctrine, saying, " Black men 
have no rights that white men are bound to respect." This constituted 
the issue. And Mr. Seward now tacitly espoused the doctrine of the 
Court instead of the republican principle, saying that the fugitive act 
was constitutional and ought to be enforced. He further asserted that 
all State laws which interfered with it ought to be repealed. 

But these pledges of subserviency to the slave power appeared to 
have no favorable effect upon southern rebels. Alabama, Georgia, 
Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, proceeded to declare their separa- 
tion from the Union ; while South Carolina steadily continued to raise 
troops, erect fortifications, discipline her army, and make every possible 
preparation for the coming conflict. Early in January hostilities com- 
menced. The steamer " Star of the West," carrying supplies to Fort 
Sumter, entered Charleston harbor under the flag of the United States. 
The rebel batteries on Morris Island opened'fire upon her and compelled 
her to return without landing. But while the rebels were thus firing 
upon our flag, the " Peace Congress" was engaged in deliberating upon 
further surrenders and further guarantees to slavery : Indeed, while that 
body was thus engaged, a convention of delegates from the seceding 
States were actively laboring to form a constitution for the new Con- 
federacy, and organizing a government so as to combine all their forces 
against the loyal States. 

This Convention was sitting at Montgomery, Alabama. The support 
of slavery constituted the first and most prominent feature of the con- 
stitution of the " Southern Confederacy." It was the first instance in 
which a people had associated under a written constitution, pledging 
their powers to the support of oppression. 

Mr. Floyd, the Secretary of War, had sent to Texas ordnance, arms, 



TWO GOVERNMENTS IN OPERATION. 461 

ammunition and vast military supplies, under pretence of furnishing 
the army stationed upon the frontier of that State. As yet Texas had 
passed no ordinance of secession ; but fearing that these stores would be 
reclaimed by the Federal Government, her authorities demanded of 
General Twiggs, then in command of the troops, the delivery of this 
vast amount of public property to them. 

General Twiggs was a citizen of Mississippi and a secessionist. He at 
once surrendered some two thousand troops and four millions dollars 
worth of military supplies to the commander of a few hundred militia of 
Texas. 

During the month of February, the Senators and Representatives of 
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida vacated their seats 
in Congress, having received official notice that those States had severed 
their connection with the Federal Government. 

The constitution of the Southern Confederacy was adopted, and six 
of the thirty-three States were acting under a separate confederacy, and 
had their army in the field ; four other States were rapidly perfecting their 
acts of secession : and the two hostile governments were in full operation 
before the close of the democratic administration. For more than half 
a century the slave power had ruled the nation under the disguise of 
Democracy. That organization had devoted its energies to the encourage- 
ment and support of slavery. Its members had identified themselves 
with the institution to such an extent that, when the regime of slavery 
ceased, the democratic party could no longer maintain its former 
prestige. Yet its leaders, in their blindness, seized upon the pillars of 
the political temple, and disappeared amid the moral and political ruins 
which they had brought upon the country, leaving to the Republicans a 
dismembered Government and civil war. 

The rebellion had progressed thus far at the close of the thirty-sixth 
Congress. Yet the Republicans of that body made no movement — 
passed no law, provided no means for suppressing hostilities. The 
reasons assigned were that it was hoped that the rebellious States would 
return to their loyalty ; if the northern States would repeal their per- 
sonal liberty laws, enforce the fugitive slave act, give further guarantees 
to slavery, abandon the doctrines of Republicanism and disband that 
organization, as had been proposed. 



462 mr. Lincoln's inaugural address. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN — HIS POSITION REGARDING SLAVERY 

ACTION OF CONGRESS HIS PROCLAMATION OF FREEDOM — RAISING OF NEGRO 

TROOPS, AND A WAR FOR FREEDOM. 

The 4th March, a.d. 1861, will long mark an incident in the history 
of the United States. A republican President was then inaugurated, 
and the Grovernment passed into the hands of the party who elected him. 
Many, very many electors who voted for the incoming President had, 
since the speech of Mr. Seward, entertained gloomy apprehensions that 
they were once more to be deceived ; that the new Administration would 
surrender the doctrines of the party and become subservient to the slave 
power. Opponents also boasted that a republican Administration could 
not guide the Government amid the storms and strifes of civil war, which 
now appeared imminent. Yet the President's most intimate friends 
entertained a perfect confidence in his integrity. That was the only 
pledge he had given. His experience in public life had been limited ; he 
had never enjoyed the opportunity of giving to the nation evidence of 
his capacity for the high position to which he had been elected ; yet, the 
eyes of thirty millions of people were upon him, watching every word 
and every act. 

In his inaugural he simply reasserted the doctrines of those who 
elected him in regard to slavery in the States and in the Territories. 
"With them he also discarded the doctrine that the Supreme Court were 
to construe the Constitution for other departments of government. 

In relation to the rebellion he was conciliatory but firm. This was 
looked upon as the great point in his inaugural address. It was regarded 
as the seminal thought from which all other questions of policy must 
spring. He showed no disposition to surrender any legitimate interest 
for the purpose of inducing the seceding States to return to their loyalty; 
while he stood forth boldly in advance of all his predecessors, demand- 
ing legal protection for northern colored citizens while travelling in the 
South. 

But he had not studied the philosophy of human governments, nor 
analyzed their powers, so far as to see clearly that neither human laws, 
nor human constitutions, nor human power, could give to one man, or to 



COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. 4G3 

any set of men, rightful authority over the lives or the liberties of an 
innocent and unoffending people. On the contrary, he asserted that the 
Constitution had provided for the surrender of fugitive slaves, either by 
the States or by the Federal Government, and he seemed to acknowledge 
that the framers of the Constitution possessed the legitimate power to 
impose upon their descendants some sort of obligation to seize their 
fellow-men while fleeing from oppression and return them to bondage. 
On this point it was evident thafhis mind had not been led to analyze 
the transcendent crime of enslaving or of reenslaving innocent persons. 

Yet the writer would do injustice to Mr. Lincoln were he to omit 
saying that his inaugural was just what his friends who were best 
acquainted with him expected. They understood his positions, and in 
public and in private insisted that the logic of events would bring his 
mind to the full appreciation of the crimes of slavery. 

Nor would the writer do justice to the reformers of that day 
were he to omit saying they did not expect Mr. Lincoln to make 
up his I labinet from those who had long been prominent in the advocacy 
of Republicanism. They only demanded three of the seven Cabinet 
officers.' To that request the President cordially responded : and in 
compliance appointed Messrs. Seward, Chase and Wells as members of 
his Cabinet ; while Messrs. Cameron, Bates, Smith and Blair were 
regarded as more conservative in character. To them no objection was 
made by the advocates of liberty, as all believed they, too, would come 
up to the support of truth and justice, as events should constrain them 
to meet the responsibilities of their several positions. With this Cabinet, 
and under these circumstances, President Lincoln entered upon that 
mighty conflict between freedom and slavery, between justice and crime, 
which has attracted the attention of the Christian world. 

The cannonade of Fort Sumter, and the attempted massacre of the 
Massachusetts troops while marching through Baltimore to the relief of 
Washington City, aroused the people of the free States to a realization 
of the fact that they were already precipitated upon a momentous civil 
war. 

The President issued his proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand 
troops, under the law of 1195, in order to suppress the rebellion. 

In all parts of the free States volunteers were called for ; companies 
and regiments were formed, and hurried to the field. The attention of 
all was directed to our armies, and the subject of slavery was apparently 
forgotten in the all-absorbing interest of existing hostilities. 

The battles fought -and the victories lost and won during that 
war will long mark an important era in the progress of Christian 



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McCLZ^LJ-S FSOCT.A^L= DEVOTHCT TC ' 

E _ ' . 
who remonstrated with General 

• - ; : 

... : 

troops, on 

. " . 

of . 

afe: heir freedom, but they would enu* any insnrree- 

~ _ _ . 

troops: Nor are ned flat General 

:Lii_-.I '_'.- 1.I1I . -.lis = i - I:..-" ±..:- !:. ::n::i ::' : zr 
troops often employed them in granting the property of rebels serring 
in the ged, through the pnbfie press, 

that the dwelling and proper - j^ was 

- . 

indemancy of the weather, and died whho- 

baron . 

? tie t . .- . 7 . ... 

:..--- i:l >"";::'_ C ir i.:.i t issei .rilLiLi-S ::" =e:~ii::i ni i_:: : . 
their am^ : - 

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1:117 • . *r: . ' ■ . : :_. 

. control of both branches of Congress as 

well 1 --partme^ts. 5o party hi ". . ■ : -Teen in pos- 

d J ..'■:.. mment. Their 

._ _ :rld: Indeed Demoera- i. .-..- lolder eonld be mdnced 

-rprinciples inscribed upon the republican 
. : ... - . . '.I ii~ : 

h the Til :n had be -.z :':mded; andnonortheg 
dared utter an argument in far : tie rebellion, 
. it. 

* 

A .- " - now appeared to eome : b mind- 

. . • 1- - jt-.-I :'_:: 

a eoneen 



4:66 mr. seward's policy adopted. 

these avowals he had assumed the office of Premier of the republican 
Administration. As Secretary of State he instructed our representa- 
tive at the Court of St. James to assure the Ministers of her Britannic 
Majesty that the President intended to bring back the rebel States with 
their institutions unchanged ; indeed, he insisted that they were to be 
reinstated in all their former relations to the Government and to the 
people of the free States. 

Upon these official avowals of our own statesmen, European ministers 
asserted that neither the cause of justice nor of liberty entered into or 
constituted any part of the objects or motives for suppressing the rebel- 
lion : That as these objects were discarded by our Executive, there 
could be no other design than merely to hold the southern States in 
subjection to the free States, contrary to the doctrine of our revolution- 
ary fathers. 

Mr. Seward was regarded as one of the most profound politicians 
of the age. His suggestion for an abandonment of the republican 
doctrines, the enforcement of the fugitive slave act, and repeal of all 
State laws enacted for protecting northern freemen was in precise 
accordance with the desire of those who adhered to the democratic 
party, and of all who were in favor of sustaining slavery. Mem- 
bers of Congress, instead of boldly asserting the doctrines on which they 
could only hope for vindication — doctrines on which they had themselves 
been elected to office — and at once providing ample means for suppress- 
ing the rebellion, proceeded to advise the people to surrender those 
doctrines and to unite cordially with men who had ever favored the 
prostitution of the Federal power to the support of slavery. 

On this as on other subjects the writer would do no injustice 
to any of the public men of that important period of our history. 
He can only speak with positive assurance of the Republican Senators 
and Representatives of Ohio. It is certain that they united, in a letter 
addressed to the republican committee of that State, advising them to 
call a convention of all men, without distinction of party, who were in 
favor of the Union and of suppressing the rebellion, without asserting 
any principles as the basis of their action. It is also certain that the 
three large and commanding States of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New 
York, no longer adhered to the doctrines proclaimed at Philadelphia. 
New England, Michigan, and one or two other States, adhered to their 
integrity, promptly refusing to unite in this political suicide : But in 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, men were nominated and elected to 
office by Republicans who had ever sustained the institution of slavery, 
and persistently opposed the vital principles of republicanism. They 



DEBATE IN THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT. 467 

were, however, loudest in their protestations for restoring the Union, 
and anxious to put down the rebellion by rendering the people of the 
free States still more subservient to the slave interest. 

Northern Democrats were now inspired with the hope that Republicans 
would surrender the political power which they had obtained after years 
of toil, and consent that the democratic party should resume control 
of the Government. 

Messrs. Cobden and Bright, and other members of the British Parlia- 
ment, known to be decided advocates of republican principles, no longer 
spoke in favor of our efforts in the cause of civilization. The reformers 
of England and of Europe generally became silent in regard to the doc- 
trines for which the reformers of our own country had so long and so 
steadily contended 

But while the friends of Christian progress in Europe became silent 
on the subject of American freedom, the supporters of aristocracy 
assumed to speak of American statesmen and the American Govern- 
ment in terms offensive and arrogant. An extraordinary instance of 
supercilious impertinence deserves a place among recorded events of 
that day. 

General Butler was in military command of New Orleans, f 
having driven the enemies' troops from that city. Many female 
residents, sympathizing with the rebels, so far unsexed themselves as to 
insult our soldiers while on the public streets. These insults became 
common, and in order to prevent their recurrence, the commanding 
general issued an order that females who should publicly insult soldiers 
upon the streets, should be arrested and punished as " women of the 
town." 

This attempt of a military officer to maintain order, and command 
the respect of the people, was complained of by secessionists, and the 
subject became a matter of grave debate in the British Parliament. 
Noble lords, standing before the civilized world, gravely debated the pro- 
priety of this order of a military officer concerning the lewd women of a 
rebel city, complaining that such treatment of rebel females of doubtful 
character, was inhuman and barbarous, a fit subject for criticism in the 
legislative councils of a friendly nation. 

The efforts of our military officers to capture and return fugitive slaves 
to their rebel masters became so common as to reflect disgrace upon the 
army. They could not plead either the laws of any State or of Con- 
gress in extenuation of the crime which thus degraded American 
soldiers. Their action was purely voluntary ; and Mr. Lovejoy, of 
Illinois, feeling indignant at the disgrace thus brought upon our arms, 



468 VOTE ON SLAVE-CATCHING. 

presented a resolution declaring that "the capture and return of 
fugitive slaves constituted no part of the duty of American soldiers." 
Yet this resolution was opposed by adhering Democrats and pro- 
'slavery members generally. The vote of the several States was as fol- 
lows, to wit : 

Maine. Yeas — Messrs. Walton, Pessenden, Rice, and Pike, . . 4 
New Hampshire. Yeas — Messrs. Rollins and Edwards, ... 2 
Vermont. Yeas — Messrs. Walton, Morrill, and Baxter, ... 3 
Massachusetts. Yeas — Messrs. Eliot, Buffinton, Thomas, Rice, 

Alley, Gooeh, Train, Delano, Dawes, and Bailey, . . .10 

Connecticut. Yea — Mr. Loomis, 1 

]S T ay — Messrs. English and Woodruff, 2 

New York. Yeas — Messrs. Wall, F. A. Concklin, Van Wyck, 
Baker, Olin, McKean, Wheeler, Sherman, Franchot, 
R. Concklin, Duell, Lansing, Clark, Sedgwick, Poine- 
roy, Chamberlain, Diven, Van Volkenburg, Ely, Frank, 

Van Horn, Spaulding, and Feuton, 23 

Nays — Messrs. Smith, Odell, Wood, Haight, Ward, and 

Steele, 6 

New Jersey. Yea — Mr. Stratton, 1 

Nays — Messrs. Nixon, Steele, and Cobb, 3 

Pennsylvania. Yeas — Messrs. Verree, Kelley, Davis, Hickman, 
Stevens, Killinger, Campbell, Hale, McPherson, Blair, 
Covode, Morehead, Wallace, Patton, Babbitt, . . .15 
Nays — Messrs. Cooper, Ancona, Wright, Johnson, Bailey, 

Lazear 6 

Ohio. Yeas — Messrs. Gurley, Ashley, Shellabarger, Trimble, Wor- 
cester, Blake, Cutler, Edgerton, Riddle, Hutchins, and 

Bingham, 11 

Nays — Messrs. Pendleton, Vallandigham, Allen, White, 

Noble, Horton, Cox, and Nugen, 8 

Indiana. Yeas — Messrs. Dunn, Julian, Porter, White, Colfax, 

Mitchell, Shanks, 1 

Nays — Messrs, Cravens and Holman, 2 

Illinois. Yeas — Messrs. Washburne, Arnold, and Lovejoy, . . 3 
Nays — Messrs. Kellogg, Richardson, McClernand, Robin- 
son, Fouke, and Logan, 6 

Missouri. Yeas — Messrs. Blair and Rollins, 2 

Nay — Mr. Noell, 1 

Michigan. Yeas — Messrs. Granger, Bearaan, Kellogg, and Trow- 
bridge, . . 4 



VOTE ON FREEDOM AND CONFISCATION. 469 

Iowa. Yea — Mr. Vandever, 1 

"Wisconsin. Yeas — Messrs. Potter and Sloan, 2 

Minnesota. Yeas — Messrs. Aldrich and Windom, 2 

Kansas. Yea — Mr. Conway 1 

Rhode Island. Nay — Mr. Sheffield, 1 

Delaware. Nay — Mr. Fisher, 1 

Maryland. Nays — Messrs. Crisfield, Webster, Thomas, and Cal- 
vert, 4 

Virginia. Nays — Messrs. Whaley, Carlisle, and Upton, ... 3 
Kentucky. Nays — Messrs. Burnet, Jackson, Grider, Harding, 
Wicklifle, Dunlap, Mallory, Menzies, Crittenden, and 

Wadsworth, 10 

A bill confiscating the property of rebels was debated at great length 
in both Houses, and was so amended as to give freedom to all slaves 
who should be employed in aiding the rebellion by erecting batteries, 
forts, or in digging rifle-pits. This bill met with strong opposition, but 
upon its final passage, member* from the various States voted as fol- 
lows : From Maine, Messrs. Walton and Fesseuden ; from New Hamp- 
shire, Rollins and Edwards ; from Vermont, Walton, Morrill, aud 
Baxter ; from Massachusetts, Eliot, Buffinton, Thomas, Rice, Alley 
and Train voted in the affirmative ; from Connecticut, Mr. Loomis voted 
aye, aud Mr. English no ; from Rhode Island, Mr. Sheffield voted' aye, 
and Mr. Browne no ; from New York, Messrs. R. Concklin, Olin, 
McKean, Wheeler, Sherman, Franchot, Duell, Lansing, Clark, Sedg- 
wick, Chamberlain, Frank, Van Horn, Spaulding and Fenton voted for 
the bill, while Messrs. Diven, Smith, Odell, Haight and Steele voted 
against it ; from Pennsylvania, Messrs. Verree, Kelley, Stevens, Blair, 
Covode, Wallace and Babbitt voted in the affirmative, and Messrs. Mc- 
Pherson, Ancona, Hale, Johnson and Bailey voted in the negative • 
from Ohio, Messrs. Gurley, Hutchins, Ashley, Shellabarger and Bing- 
ham voted for the bill, and Messrs. Morris, Pendleton, Vallandigham, 
Allen, Noble, Horton and Cox voted against it ; from Indiana, Messrs. 
Julian, White, Colfax and Mitchell voted in favor of the bill, and 
Messrs. Dunn, Holman, Porter, Cravens, Law and Voorhees voted 
against it ; from Illinois, Messrs. Arnold, Lovejoy and Kellogg voted 
for the bill, and Messrs. Robinson, McClernaud and Fouke voted 
against it ; from Missouri, Mr. Blair voted in favor of the bill, and 
Messrs. Rollins, Norton and Reid voted against its passage ; from 
Michigan, Messrs. Granger, Beaman and Kellogg ; from Wisconsin, 
Messrs. Potter and Sloan ; from Minnesota, Messrs. Aldrich and Win- 
dom voted for the bill ; from Maryland, Messrs. May, Calvert, Webster, 



470 GENERAL FREMONT PROCLAIMS LIBERTY. 

Thomas and Crisfield ; from Kentucky, Messrs. Burnet, Jackson, G rider, 
Harding, Wickliffe, Dunlap, Mallory, Menzies, Crittenden and Wads- 
worth opposed its passage ; and Mr. Shiel, of Oregon, united with them. 
The bill passed the House by a vote of 51 to 48. 
, OM , This enactment became memorable as the first law of Con- 

lbol.J 

gress, enacted subsequent to 1T81, that gave liberty to any por- 
tion of the enslaved population of these United States. The legislation 
of Congress had been in favor of continuing and extending the institu- 
tion since 1?93, thereby increasing and strengthening the very crime 
which now struck at the nation's life. Men saw that Messrs. Clay, 
and Webster, and Fillmore, and Jackson, and Yan Buren, and Polk, 
and Pierce, and Buchanan, had contributed to the existing rebellion 
just so far as they had lent their influence to strengthen slavery : 
it was equally obvious that Mr. Adams and those who acted with him 
in striving to separate the Federal Government from all support of 
that institution, had exerted their influence to preserve our Govern- 
ment, and to prevent rebellion. Indeed, members of Congress who 
a few weeks previously advised the abandonment of the republican 
principles and party, now voted for this bill, fiudiug themselves con- 
strained to vote for the very doctrines which they had so recently 
repudiated. Nor did the President hesitate to sign the bill : and 
Mr. Seward, constituting one of the Cabinet, is supposed to have 
yielded his approval, as there is no evidence of his having dissented from 
his associates. The old men of the nation who had long felt the 
necessity of purifying our Government from the crimes of slavery, 
now felt that Congress and the Executive had taken a step in the 
right direction ; for they saw clearly that the institution had throttled 
the Government ; that slavery and the Union were in a death-strug- 
gle ; that one only could survive, while the other must perish. It had 
been in the power of Congress to withdraw its influence from slavery, 
and thereby save bloodshed, until within the last five years ; but that 
policy was not adopted, and now it was too late, and the life of the 
nation could only be preserved by the death of slavery. 

But this was an extraordinary session of Congress, called to provide 
ways and means for prosecuting the war ; and no further action was 
had directly affecting slavery until the reassembling of that body in 
December following. 

General Fremont, placed in command of the Western Department, 
issued a proclamation, emancipating the slaves within his military 
district. It was a policy which appeared not only just, but necessary. 
Yet there was such a strong feeling in favor of slavery among men who 



GEN. HALLECK EXCLUDES SLAVES FROM HIS LESTES. 471 

adhered to the democratic party, and those Whigs who cherished their 
ancient prejudices, and among military officers ; and such were the re- 
monstrances presented to the President, that he issued a counter order, 
setting aside that of General Fremont, declaring that he had reserved to 
himself the question of emancipation, by military authority, and would 
act upon it at the dictates of his own judgment. General Fremont was 
soon recalled, and General Halleck was appointed to command that 
department. Aware of the dissatisfaction with General Fremont's 
attempt to give liberty and do justice to the enslaved people of his 
department, General Halleck issued an order excluding fugitive slaves 
from the lines of his army, under pretense that those who thus sought 
liberty, were in the habit of giving their rebel masters information of his 
military movements. This excuse was not satisfactory to the friends of 
liberty, and this order number three of General Halleck became some- 
what notorious, and seemed greatly to impair the confidence which loyal 
men had reposed in him. 

I during the summer of 1861, most of our commanding officers occa- 
sionally employed their soldiers in sending back fugitive slaves to be sub- 
sequently used by their masters in raising provisions for the support of 
the rebel army, or of rebel masters and their families. They also em- 
ployed the soldiers in protecting the property of rebels. The wives of 
officers serving in the Confederate army were in the practice of boldly 
demanding of Federal commanders a guard to protect them and their 
property while the Federal army was encamped in the vicinity of their 
residences ; but General Hunter, commanding the military district of 
South Carolina Georgia, and Florida, issued a general order, declar- 
ing: all slaves within those States to be free. This order was said to 
have created great alarm among the secessionists, who hastily fled from 
that region ; and it was believed if General Hunter had been permit- 
ted to follow up his order by enlisting negroes, he would have sup- 
pressed the rebellion' in his district without calling another white sol- 
dier to his assistance ; but this order was also set aside by higher 
authority, because it was offensive to slaveholders and those who sus- 
tained the institution. It was hoped that this undignified respect for the 
prejudices and the long-cherished crimes of pro-slavery men, would attach 
them to the standard of liberty ; and it is believed that while the Pre- 
sident refused to permit our military officers to strike the death-blow to 
the institution, many joined the ranks of freedom, while a far greater 
number were led to believe that he wanted the firmness to give the fatal 
stroke which would lustrate the nation from the contagion of oppression. 



472 PROPOSITIONS TO ABOLISH SLAVERY. 

The Executive embraced an early opportunity of uniting with Great 
Britain in a solemn treaty for suppressing the African slave trade. 

The treaty recognized the principles so long contended for by the 
British ministry and the American reformers : but the democratic party 
had been vociferous in opposing every proposition having in view a com- 
bined effort of independent nations for the destruction of that scourge 
of the human race. 

That influence having ceased to control the Government, measures 
were soon adopted for placing the United States in an attitude towards 
the slave trade which became a Christian nation. 

The thirty-seventh Congress convened on the 2d December for 
its first regular session. The vacation had given members an 
opportunity of witnessing the operations of the rebels, and of meditating 
upon the most efficient means for suppressing the widely-extended insur- 
rection which lay before them. European statesmen were charging the 
attempted revolution to the democratic character of our institutions : 
But every impartial observer saw most clearly that it was the despotism 
of slavery which now involved our people in all the horrors of civil war. 
Men of experience understood that the only mode of restoring peace was 
to resume and carry out those republican and democratic doctrines 
which the Secretary of State, and so many members of Congress, had 
recently advised the people to abandon. 

At the solicitation of the slave power, Congress, in 1193, had assumed 
undelegated authority over slavery, in order to uphold and sustain it : 
and now, after sixty-eight years of experience, the law of self-preserva- 
tion compelled that body to exert its powers for the destruction of the 
institution which it had so long cherished. 

On the first day of this session, Mr. Eliot, of Massachusetts, offered 
a resolution declaring the right of the President, and of all military offi- 
cers commanding departments or districts, to emancipate all slaves 
within their several jurisdictions. 

Mr. Campbell, of Pennsylvania, presented a proposition for confiscat- 
ing all slaves of rebels : and Mr. Stevens, of the same State, presented 
a joint resolution, requesting the President to emancipate by proclama- 
tion the slaves of all rebels, and to direct all military officers to carry 
out such proclamation within their several jurisdictions. 

All these propositions were more radical than those brought forward 
by Mr. Adams or by the writer, or by their associates in the earlier 
days of the reformation. They merely proposed to separate the Fede- 
ral Government and the people of the free States from all support of 



VARIOUS PROPOSITIONS OFFERED. 473 

slavery, leaving the institution entirely with the States in which it 
existed : But the propositions now made had in view the destruction 
of that relation which existed between master and slave, wherever the 
master was engaged in efforts to overthrow the Government which 
had protected him. This destruction of slavery had been rendered 
necessary by the rebellion. 

Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, now among the most experienced and ablest 
members of the House, gave notice of his intention to offer a bill 
emancipating the slaves of all rebel masters, and confiscating their pro- 
perty. 

There is a pride of opinion among men in public and in private life, 
which renders them generally unwilling to admit having cherished politi- 
cal or moral errors : Thus many who had long advocated the support 
of slavery by Congress, now, from mere pride of opinion, opposed the 
exercise of legislative powers for its destruction. They also insisted that 
in dealing with the rebels, Government was bound to act entirely within 
the Constitution, and guarantee to the armed foes of the nation the 
same security which was extended to its most devoted supporters : They 
contended that neither the President nor Congress possessed any right 
to abolish slavery, even to save the nation's life : And although driven 
by argument to admit that rebels may be shot, or hanged, with perfect 
propriety, they denied, with unyielding pertinacity, that their slaves could 
be emancipated by the just exercise of governmental power. 

In the Senate, Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, gave notice of his in- * mL 
tention to introduce a bill to emancipate the slaves of rebels and 
to confiscate their property. These several propositions called forth 
much debate, and constituted the principal subjects of discussion during 
the session. Those persons who held slaves were, in fact, as friendly to 
free governments now as they had been in former times. They had not 
changed their views. They had ever sought the overthrow of those 
doctrines which recognize the equal rights of all men to life and liberty. 
Indeed, Congress and the Executive had long practically denied the ex- 
istence of these rights, and had legislated for depriving fugitive slaves, 
and slaves in the District of Columbia, and on the high seas, of those 
prerogatives which the Creator had vouchsafed to them : and when 
northern statesmen changed their views and determined no longer 
to violate those rights, southern men seized the sword, in order to main- 
tain and contiuue the crimes which the people of the free States refused 
longer to encourage. 

On the third day of the session, Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, 
offered a joint resolution, instructing the marshal of the District of 



474: CITY MARSHAL AIDS THE REBELLION. 

Columbia to discbarge all persons confined in tbe common jail of tbe 
District, against whom no charge of crime or misdemeanor bad been pre- 
ferred : and the Senator showed from official documents that some sixty 
persons were then held in prison by the marshal, upon " suspicion of 
being fugitive slaves." Many of these were freemen, bora in the northern 
States, but had engaged in our military service as teamsters, officers' 
servants and nurses for the sick. Of course they were attached to the 
troops, and under the military protection of the United States ; but 
they were seized without ceremony by the minions of slavery as soon as 
they reached the nation's-capital, and thrown into prison, where they 
were detained until the marshal's fees for arrest and imprisonment were 
paid, thus aiding the rebellion by taking efficient men from the service 
of our army. 

Others had fled from Virginia, seeking an asylum from bondage 
within our nation's capital. These were seized and held until an oppor- 
tunity presented for sending them back to the service of then' rebel 
masters, where they were employed in furnishing provisions for the rebels 
or in laboring upon rebel fortifications, batteries, rifle-pits, &c. Others 
were committed by rebel masters to the jail for safe keeping until a sale 
could be made ; and when the slaves were thus committed, the masters 
usually left for the rebel army, and contributed their influence and 
efforts to overthrow the Government, whose marshal had their negroes in 
safe keeping. 

186I -, Members of the Senate exposed these facts, and called on the 

marshal to state by what authority he thus outraged the Consti- 
tution and the common dictates of humanity. 

On the same day, Mr. Hutchius, of Ohio, moved a similar resolution 
in the House of Representatives, and the attention of that body was 
called to the subject. The marshal was unable to refer to any law for 
his proceeding ; but asserted that the practice had long existed : Indeed, 
the reader will recollect that the practice had been eloquently exposed 
in 1816 by Hon. John Randolph, of Virginia, and more recently by 
different members of Congress. 

But the marshal, instead of abandoning this moral piracy, gave 
orders to the jailer to admit no persons to the jail, unless they should 
present a written permit from himself, thus excluding Senators and 
members of the House from inspecting the public prison : and such was 
the state of feeling in Washington City in favor of the marshal and of 
his piratical course, that the President appeared unwilling to remove 
him either for his treason or his insolence. 

But this conduct of the*niarshal exhibited the barbarism of the 



SLAVERY ABOLISHED IN TIIE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 475 

metropolis, and aroused a very general indignation among all members 
of Congress who really desired to suppress the rebelliun, and bills were 
introduced into both Houses providing for the entire abolition of 
slavery in the District of Columbia. These bills were debated, and 
their passage opposed, and resisted by adhering Democrats and by 
some professed Republicans ; but the final passage of the bill through 
the House of Representatives was effected on the 11th April, when each 
member recorded his vote according to his judgment, and as he wished 
to be judged by posterity. Messrs. Walton, Fessenden, Morrill, Rice, and 
Pike, of Maine ; Rollins and Edwards, of New Hampshire ; Walton, 
Morrill, and Baxter, of Vermont ; Eliot, Buffinton, Thomas, Rice, Alley, 
Gooch, Train, Delano, and Bailey, of Massachusetts, and Loomis, of Con- 
necticut, voted for the bill ; but Messrs. English and Woodruff, of the 
latter State, voted against it. From Xew York, Messrs. F. A. Concklin, 
R. Concklin, Tan Wyck, Baker, Olin, McKean, Wheeler, Sherman, 
Franchot, Duell, Lansing, Clark, Sedgwick, Pomeroy, Chamberlain, 
Diven, YanVolkenburg, Ely, Frank, Van Horn, Spaulding, and Fenton 
voted for the bill ; while Messrs. Smith, Odell, Wood, Ward, Haight, 
and Steele voted against it. From Pennsylvania-, Messrs. Verree, 
K. -Iley, Davis, Killinger, Hickman, Stevens, Campbell, Hale, McPhersou, 
Blair, Covode, Morehead, Wallace, Patton, and Babbitt voted for the 
bill, and Messrs. Wright, Johnson, Bailey, and Lazear opposed its 
parage. From Ohio, Messrs. Gurley, Ashley, Shellabarger, Trimble, 
Worcester, Blake, Egerton, Bingham, Hutching and Riddle sustained 
it, and Messrs. Pendleton, Yallandigham, Allen, White, Noble, Morris, 
and Nugen voted against it. From Indiana, Messrs. Dunn, Julian, 
Porter, White, Colfax, Mitchell, and Shanks voted for the bill, and 
Messrs. Law and Holman voted against it. From Illinois, Messrs. 
Washburne, Arnold, and Lovejoy sustained the bill, as did also Messrs. 
Aldrich and Windom, of Minnesota. Potter and Sloan, of Wisconsin, 
Granger, Beamau, Trowbridge, and Kellogg, of Michigan, and Blair 
and Rollins, of Missouri, voted for the bill ; while Messrs. Steele, of 
New Jersey, Thomas, of Maryland, Crittenden, Grider, Harding, 
Wickliffe, Dunlap, Menzies, and Mallory, of Kentucky, voted against it. 
It passed by a vote of 93 to 38. The Senate concurred by a propor- 
tionate majority. The bill was approved by the President, and it 
became a law. The institution had been established in the District 
in 1801, and the straggle for its abolition commenced in 1805. The 
contest had continued for fifty-six years. During that period slavery 
and the slave trade had been sustained in our national metropolis by the 
influence and votes of northern as well as southern Senators and Repre- 



476 BARBAROUS CONDUCT OF MILITARY OFFICERS. 

sentatives : And should the record of crimes perpetrated in that District 
under the sanction of Congress ev%r be made up and exposed to public 
examination, it must reflect discredit upon all the States. 
.. M . The old men of the nation who had labored long and steadily 
to redeem our Government from the accursed traffic in the 
bodies of men and women, now rejoiced, thanked God, and took cou- 
rage. The devotees of despotism in the city of Washington no longer 
controlled the action of Congress. The advocates of liberty, gathering 
courage from success, no longer waited to be assailed by the minions 
of slavery ; they assumed the offensive, and without scruple exposed the 
conduct of our military officers who aided the rebels by capturing and 
sending back fugitive slaves to aid in carrying forward the rebellion in 
which most of the slave States had engaged. 

Early in the session Mr. Sumner called attention to the order of 
General Halleck prohibiting fugitive slaves from entering the lines of 
the army under his command. He exposed the pretence of that officer 
in representing those men and women who had fled from bondage as 
informing their traitorous masters in regard to the movements and inten- 
tions of those who afforded them an asylum. 

On the same day a similar investigation was going on in the House 
of Representatives. Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, proposed a resolution 
requesting the President to direct General Halleck to withdraw his 
general order number three. 

In debating this resolution, Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, a man of a 
high order of talents, of great experience and influence, declared his 
belief that General Halleck had issued his order " number three," now 
become notorious, more for the purpose of affecting the character of 
General Fremont than from any feelings of barbarism. He declared 
the practice of seizing and returning slaves had risen from the proclama- 
tion of General McClellan, in Western Virginia ; said that the example 
thus set had been followed by General Dix and other commanding 
officers of districts. He also described a case in Western Virginia, 
where two wounded soldiers, having hidden in the woods after a battle, 
were discovered by two fugitive slaves, who kindly supplied them with 
food and water, and nursed them until able to travel with assistance, 
when they conducted them to the nearest American camp. But Gene- 
ral Tyler, learning these facts, ordered the negroes arrested and sent 
back to their rebel masters. Indeed, if the published accounts of that 
day are to be credited, military officers sent back fugitive slaves to in- 
human rebel masters, who, in frequent instances, scourged the returned 
fugitive until death brought relief to the victims of their fiendish rage ; 



TKEASON STALKS DNREBUKED. 477 

and hundreds were said to have been shot down by their masters 
for no other cause than the tardiness of their flight from Federal 
troops. 

Various resolutions and bills were presented both in the Senate Q 
and in the House of Representatives relative to this undisguised 
support given the rebellion by officers and troops in Federal employ- 
ment. The aid and comfort given the enemy would, in any impar- 
tial tribunal, have subjected every military officer thus employed to the 
punishment allotted to traitors : Yet the President felt constrained to 
await the tardy movements of the public mind. The discussions arising 
upon the various propositions were protracted. The officers who thus 
violated both law and humanity had, most of them, belonged to the 
democratic party, and were carrying out in practice the views and 
theory of that organization ; and they looked upon it as a matter of 
partisan policy rather than of treason to the Government. Under these 
circumstances the President and Cabinet appeared to feel it necessary to 
await the logic of events, to show these officers their error rather than 
attempt to convince them by striking their names from the rolls of the 
army. 

But their conduct had so far disgraced the army, both at home and 
abroad, that Congress passed a law directing the dismissal in disgrace 
of every officer who should longer indulge in that barbarous prac- 
tice. 

The President readily approved the bill. The law was promulgated, 
and those who continued to offend against its provisions were dismissed 
in disgrace from the public service. 

The various bills and resolutions touching slavery and its connection 
with the Federal Government were debated, referred to appropriate 
committees, reports were made upon them, and they were again dis- 
cussed. Members of Congress were now constrained to look at facts 
and to examine principles. They could no longer refuse serious investi- 
gation. They saw clearly that by consenting to legislate for the benefit 
of slavery the Government had departed from the purposes for which it 
was founded. That every step in favor of upholding, extending, and 
strengthening that institution had restricted the liberty, not merely of 
th blacks, but of our white citizens, and hastened the rebellion which 
now threatened the nation's life. 

The leaders of the rebellion officially announced to the world that 
the intended revolution had for its object the establishment of a 
government to be based on human bondage. This intention to re- 
verse the onward march of civilization and return to the barbarism of 



478 EMANCIPATION BILL. 

slavery, had been proclaimed with all that apparent confidence which 
characterized our separation from Great Britain, in order to establish a 
government based upon that revealed will of the Creator, which gives 
to every human soul a right to live, to attain knowledge, happiness, and 
heaven. # 

1862 1 Under the circumstances, philanthropists and Christians in all 

t lands felt that our duty bade us plunge the dagger of justice 

through the very heart of slavery ; to strike down an institution which 
had waged war upon Christianity, and raised its puny arm against the 
clearly revealed will of the Creator. To destroy slavery it was only 
necessary to carry out the doctrines, and maintain the principles on 
which our Government had been founded, by giving liberty to all per- 
sons under the legitimate jurisdiction of Congress and the Executive. 
In short, it had become obvious that we, as a nation, must do justice to 
the slaves of the South in order to maintain the liberties of our own 
people, and after months spent in debate and examination the various 
propositions before Congress on this subject were consolidated into one 
bill, providing : 1st. For the emancipation of all slaves of persons con- 
victed of treason. 2d. For the emancipation of all who were held by 
persons engaged in the rebellion. 3d. For the emancipation of all who 
were held by persons who aided or in any way assisted those engaged in 
the rebellion. 4th. That no slave should be returned to any master 
until the loyalty of the master be proven. 5th. The bill authorized 
the President to employ any number of Africans which he might regard 
as necessary in the service of the United States. 

1S62 , All history had taught that slavery could only live and thrive 

when and where silence in regard to liberty, truth and justice 
was imposed upon the people ; yet many did not appear to comprehend 
the consequences of the contemplated law. In terms, it proposed to 
give freedom only to the slaves of disloyal citizens ; but statesmen could 
not fail to comprehend that the enactment of this bill would be followed 
by a total demoralization and final disappearance of the institution ; 
indeed, it was at this time constantly asserted that the cannonade of 
Fort Sumter had, in its effects and legitimate consequences, rang out 
the death-knell of the institution. 

This bill was also calculated to draw the line of demarkation between 
the friends of government and the advocates of slavery. It had become 
obvious to the public mind that no supporter of oppression could be a 
friend of free governments. Surrounded with considerations thus im- 
portant, on the 11th July the House of Representatives proceeded to vote 
on this bill, than which no act of Congress was ever more important. 



VOTE ON EMANCIPATION. 479 

Those members of the IIousc of Representatives who on that historic 
occasion recorded their names for and against this curse of our country 
were as follows : Mr. Loomis, of Connecticut, voted for the bill ; and 
Messrs. English, Burnham, and Woodruff, of that State, failed to vote. 
Messrs. Phelps and Sargeant, of California, Mr. Fisher, of Delaware, 
and Messrs. Dunn, Julian, Porter, White, Colfax, Mitchel, and Shanks, 
q£ Indiana, voted for it ; while Messrs. Law and Dolman, of the latter 
State, voted against it ; and Messrs. Cravens and Yoorhces refrained 
from voting. Messrs. Arnold, Kellogg, Lovejoy, and Washburue, of 
Illiuois, sustained the bill ; and Messrs. Knapp and Fouke, of that 
.^uite, opposed it; while Messrs. Richardson and Robinson did not 
vote. Messrs. Wilson and Vandever, of Iowa, and Conway, of Kau- 

. refused to vote. Messrs. Crittenden, Grider, Harding, Duulap, 
Mallory, and Mi nzies, of Kentucky, voted against the bill ; and Messrs. 
•laekson, Powell, and Wadsworth did not vote. Messrs. Goodwin, 
Walton, Fessenden, Morrill, Rice, and Pike, of Maine ; Eliot, Buffin- 
tuii, Pico, Hooper, Alley, Gooch, Bailey, and Dawes, of Massachusetts, 
voted for the bill ; and Mr. Thomas, of the last mentioned State, 
voted against it ; while Mr. Train did not vote. Messrs. Crisfield, 
Thomas, ami Webster, of Maryland, voted against the bill ; while 
Messrs, Leary, Calvert, and May refrained from voting. Messrs. Bea- 
i,ian, Kellogg, and Trowbridge, of Michigan ; Aldrich and Windoni, of 
Minnesota ; Rollins aud Edwards, of New Hampshire, supported the 
bill ; and Mr. Marston, of the latter State, did not vote. Mr. Rollins, 
of Missouri, opposed the bill ; and Messrs. Blair, Norton, Phelps, and 
Noel, of that State, did not vote. Messrs. Nixon and Stratton, of New 
Jersey, voted for the bill ; Mr. Cobb, of that State, voted against it ; 
aud Messrs. Steele and Perry expressed no opinion. Messrs. Wall, F. 
A. Concklin, Roscoe Concklin, Ely, Sedgwick, Wheeler, Sherman, 
Duell, Lansing, Frank, Yan Horn, and Fenton, of New York, recorded 
their votes in favor of the bill ; and Messrs. Odell, Wood, Kerrigan, 
Ward, and Haight voted against it ; while Messrs. Delaplaine, Yan 
Wyck, Steele, Baker, Olin, Corning, McKean, Wheeler, Yibbard, 
Franchot, Clark, Pomeroy, Chamberlain, Diven, and Yan Yolken- 
burg did not record their names on either side of the question. 
From Ohio, Messrs. Ashley, Bingham, Blake, Cutler, Gurley, Hut- 
chins, Riddle, Shellabarger, and Worcester voted for the bill ; and 
Messrs. Pendleton, Yallandigham, Allen, Cox, Nugen, and Morris 
voted against it ; while Messrs. White, Harrison, Noble, Horton, and 
Edgerton did not vote. Mr. Shiel, of Oregon, voted against the 
bill. ' From Pennsylvania, Messrs. Kelley, Davis, Stevens, Campbell, 



480 AN EEA IN THE PEOGRESS OF FREEDOM. 

Hale, McPherson, Blair, Covode, McKnight, Patton, Babbitt, More- 
head, and Wallace voted for the bill; while Messrs. Lehman, r Biddle, 
Ancona, and Lazear voted against it ; and Messrs. Vance, Hickman, 
Cooper, Wright, Johnson, and Morehead did not vote. Mr. Brown, 
of Rhode Island, voted against the bill ; and his colleague, Mr. Sheffield, 
did not vote. Messrs. Maynard, of Tennessee, Baxter and Morrill, of 
Yermont, voted for the bill ; and Mr. Walton was detained at his resi- 
dence by ill health. Messrs. Upton, Brown, and Whaley, of Virginia, 
did not vote ; while Mr. Blair voted in the affirmative. Mr. Potter, of 
Wisconsin, voted for the bill, while Messrs. Sloan and Hanchett did 
not vote. 

The bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 82 in the 
affirmative to 42 in the negative. 

On the following day it passed the Senate, Mr. Foster, of Connecticut, 
voting for it, and Mr. Dixon not voting. Mr. McDougal, of California, 
voted against it ; and Mr. Latham, of that State, failed to vote. Messrs. 
Bayard and Saulsbury, of Delaware, recorded their names in opposition 
to the bill. Mr. Bright, of Indiana, had been expelled ; and Mr. Lane, 
of that State, voted in favor of the bill. Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, sus- 
tained the bill ; and his colleague, Mr. Browning, opposed it. Messrs. 
Grimes and Harlan, of Iowa ; Lane and Pomeroy, of Kansas ; Morrill 
and Fesseuden, of Maine ; Sumner and Wilson, of Massachusetts ; 
and Chandler, of Michigan, voted for the bill. Mr. Powell, of Ken- 
tucky, and Kennedy, of Maryland, voted against it ; while Mr. Pearce, 
of the latter State, did not vote. Messrs. Polk and Johnson, of Mis- 
souri, did not vote. Messrs. Clark and Hale, of New Hampshire ; 
Harris and King, of New York ; Wade and Sherman, of Ohio ; Foote 
and Collamer, of Vermont ; Simmons and Anthony, of Rhode Island ; 
and Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, voted in the affirmative ; and Mr. Cowen, 
of the latter State, voted against it. Mr. Nesmith, of Oregon ; Johnson, 
of Tennessee ; and Carlisle, of Virginia, did not vote. Mr. Doolittle, 
of Wisconsin, voted for the bill, and Mr. Howe, of that State, did not 
vote. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 27 to 12. The President 
approved it, and it became a law. 

The passage of this bill marks an important era in the legislative his- 
tory of the country. Although in terms it did not abolish the coast- 
wise slave trade, nor the fugitive slave law, yet its passage demonstrated 
such progress of public sentiment as to indicate that Congress would 
soon entirely lustrate the free States and the Federal Government from 
all support of slavery. Indeed, they had already waged a war against 
the very existence of the institution in consequence of the rebellion. 



THE WAK POWER OF GOVERNMENT EXERCISED. 481 

The supporters of oppression became irritable, advancing arguments 
in opposition to the progress of freedom which were not only absurd, 
but ludicrous. Politicians of the present and future time will do well 
to study the debates on this and the bill establishing freedom to all 
persons within the Territories of the Uuited States. 

The last mentioned bill was originally introduced to the House of 
Representatives by Mr. Arnold, of Illinois, and when reported by the 
appropriate committee, it not only proclaimed freedom to all persons 
within the Territories belonging to the United States, or which should 
thereafter be purchased by them, but also to persons on board American 
vessels sailing upon the " high seas ;» thus striking a fatal blow at the 
coastwise riave trade, which had been sustained and cherished by Con- 
gress since the year 1808. 

Members who adhered to the democratic party now gave unmistak- 
able evidence of the desperation to which they were driven. With 
the frenzied grasp of drowning men in shipwreck, who seize upon the 
anchor in order to float ashore, these men seized upon oppression, and 
with it sunk beneath the waters of political forgetfulness and were 
seen no more. The passage of this bill was resisted by nearly the 
same members who opposed the one last noticed ; but it was carried 
through both Houses by about the same majority ; was also approved 
by the President, and became a law. 

The resistance offered to the passage of these acts by men from the 
border States was somewhat remarkable. Messrs. Crittenden and 
Wickliffe, of Kentucky, had long been regarded as among the able men 
of the West. They had served in public life with Mr. Clay, and, on im- 
portant constitutional questions, were supposed to entertain the doctrines 
of that distinguished statesman. These gentlemen, with the entire 
democratic party, denied the constitutional power of the Executive and 
of Congress to interfere with slavery in the States in times op rebellion 
even to save the nation. Mr. Wickliffe introduced resolutions in the' 
House of Representatives to that effect ; and the supporters of slavery 
with all who adhered to the democratic party, now acted with him' 
Indeed, some professed Republicans hesitated, and appeared to be in 
doubt on the subject. Few members referred to those plain elementary 
principles which teach us that, in time of hostilities, every citizen is at 
war with every citizen of the belligerent government, and is bound to 
contribute his property and life to save the government to which he has 
sworn allegiance ; that a state of war necessarily throws upon the 
Executive of every nation and of every form of government despotic 

31 



482 INEXPERIENCE OF OUR STATESMEN. 

powers, to be exercised under control of the executive judgment, re- 
strained and upheld by the intelligence of the people. 
18621 ^ ue statesmen then ruling the nation had however been born 
and educated in times of peace. They had studied neither the 
necessities nor the laws of war, and now spoke and acted without that 
examination and thought which should ever characterize the conduct of 
men in high position. Indeed, this subject had been discussed in Con- 
gress only by Mr. Adams, who was acknowledged by all to have been 
one of the most learned and patriotic, as well as the most experienced 
men of the nation.* 



* On the 14th April, 1842, Mr. Adams, referring to the resolutions presented to the House of 
Representatives by the author, and for which he was censured, remarked : 

" I said, that as far as I could understand the resolutions proposed by the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Giddings), there were some of them for which I was ready to vote, and some which I must 
vote against ; and I will now tell this House, my constituents, and the world of mankind, that the 
resolution against which I would have voted was that in which he declares that what are called the 
slave States have the exclusive right of consultation on the subject of slavery. For that resolution 
I never would vote, because I believe that it is not just and does not contain constitutional doc- 
trine. I believe that so long as the slave States are able to sustain their institution without going 
abroad, or calling upon other parts of the Union to aid them or to act on the subject, so long I will 
consent never to interfere. 

" But if they come to the free States and say to them, you must help us to keep down our slaves, 
you must aid us in an insurrection and a civil war, then, I say, that with that call comes a full 
and plenary power to this House and to the Senate over the whole subject. It is a war power. I 
say it is a war power ; and when your country is actually in war, whether it be a war of invasion 
or a war of insurrection, Congress has power to carry on the war, and must carry it on according 
to the laws of war ; and by the laws of war an invaded country has all its laws and municipal 
institutions swept by the board, and martial law takes the place of them. This power in Congress 
has perhaps never been called into exercise under the present Constitution of the United States. 
But when the laws of war are in force, what, I ask, is one of those laws? It is this: that when a 
country is invaded, and two hostile armies are set in martial array, the commanders of both 
armies have power to emancipate all the slaves in the invaded territory. 

" Nor is this a mere theoretic statement. The history of South America shows that the doctrine 
has been carried into execution within the last thirty years. Slavery was abolished in Colombia, 
first by the Spanish General Morillo, and secondly by the American General Bolivar. It was 
abolished by virtue of a military command given at the head of the army, and its abolition con- 
tinues to be law to this day. It was abolished by the laws of war, and not by municipal enact- 
ments. The power was exercised by military commanders, under instructions, of course, from 
their respective governments. Congress is now about passing a grant to refund to General Jack- 
son the amount of a certain fine imposed upon him by a judge under the laws of the State of 
Louisiana. You are going to refund him the money, with interest ; and this you are going to do 
because the imposition of the fine was unjust. And why unjust? Because General Jackson was 
acting under the laws of war, and because the moment you place a military commander in a dis- 
trict which is the theatre of war, the laws of war apply to that district. I have a correspondence 
between General Jackson and the Governor of Georgia, during the Seminole campaign, in which 
General Jackson asserts the principle that he, as Governor of a State within his (General Jack- 
son's) military division, had no right to give a military order while he (General Jackson) was in 
the field. The Governor contested the power of General Jackson, and said all he could for State 
rights ; but General Jackson had given an order, and that order was carried into effect, while 'the 
order of the Governor was suppressed. General Jackson had the right of the question. 

" I might furnish a thousand proofs to show that the pretensions of gentlemen to the sanctity of 
their municipal institutions, under a state of actual invasion and of actual war, whether servile, 
civil, or foreign, are wholly unfounded ; and that the laws of war do, in all such cases, take the 



t s 

SLAVERY* THE STRENGTH OF THE REBELLION. 4-33 



He had, however, been unpopular from his inflexible adherence to 
the Constitution. He, and those who acted with him, had spurned the 
policy of Messrs. Clay, Webster, Fillmore, Calhoun, Cass, Van Buren, 
and Polk ; and now the ardent followers of those distinguished men 
were slow to relinquish the policy in which they had been educated,, and 
adopt the doctrines of men whom they had ever regarded as misguided 
opponents of slavery. 

Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, had avowed his intention to 
surrender republicanism and democracy ; and it was believed that the 
Executive would maintain the policy which hod guided the administra- 
tions of Messrs. Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, and Fillmore. Ohio, Pennsyl- 
vania, and New York had already abandoned republicanism. 

But against all these influences, members of Congress were „™ 
now impelled by that natural law, that will of the Creator, 
which underlies all human action, constraining them to carry out the 
doctrines enunciated by the reformers and avowed by the Republicans at 
Philadelphia; although they had been so recently renounced by Senators, 
Representatives, people and States. 

As the rebellion expanded in its proportions, the danger to which the 
Government was exposed became more apparent. It was perceived 
that all support of slavery contributed to strengthen the rebellion ; 
while the liberty of a single slave subtracted so much from the power 
now seeking the overthrow of the Government. 

precedence. I lay this down as the law of nations. I say that the military authority takes, for 
the time, the place of all municipal institutions, slavery among the rest. Under that state of 
things, so far from its being true that the States where slavery exists have the exclusive manage- 
ment of the subject, not only tlie President of the United States, but the commander of the 
army, has power to order the universal emancipation of the slaves. 

" I have given more in detail a principle which I have asserted on this floor before now, and of 
which I have no more doubt than that you, sir, occupy that chair. I give it in its development, 
in order that any gentleman, from any part of the Union, may deny the truth of this position, if 
he thinks proper, and may maintain his denial, not by indignation, not by passion and fury, but 
by sound and sober reasoning from the laws of nations and the laws of war. If my position can 
be answered and refuted, I shall receive the refutation with pleasure. I shall be glad to listen to 
reason, aside, as I say, from indignation and passion. If by the force of reasoning, my under- 
standing can be convinced, I here pledge myself to recant what I have asserted. 

" Let my position be answered ; let me be told, let my constituents be told, let the people of my 
State be told (a State whose soil tolerates not the foot of a slave), that they are bound by the 
Constitution to a long and toilsome march, under burning summer suns and a deadly southern 
clime, for the suppression of a servile war. That they are bound to leave their bodies to rot upon 
the sands of Carolina ; to leave their wives widows, and their children orphans ; that those who 
cannot march are bound to pour out their treasures, while their sons and brothers are pouring 
out their blood, to suppress a servile war, combined with a civil or foreign war ; and yet that 
there exists no power (beyond the limits of the slave State where such war is raging) to emanci- 
pate the slaves. Let this be proved, I say. I am open to conviction ; but till that conviction 
comes, I put it forth, not as a dictate of feeling, but as a settled maxim of the laws of nations, that 
in such a case the military power supersedes the civil power." 



< 

484: HOSTILITY TO THE RAISING OF COLORED TROOPS. 

It became quite obvious that the colored people of the nation must 
soon be united with the whites of the free States, in defence of those 
rights which God had bestowed equally on all races of men. The 
acts of Congress to which we have just directed the reader's atten- 
tion, constituted important steps towards the consummation of this 
purpose. 

Strong efforts were made to induce the President to authorize the 
raising of negro troops. It was urged that in the Involution arid in 
the war of 1812, colored men had made the best soldiers in the service. 
It was further urged that to admit them to bear arms would inspire 
them with ambition, and thus prepare them for that liberty which it 
was foreseen they would at no distant day enjoy. It was urged that 
the service of negroes would save the lives of white men, particularly in 
the southern portions of the Union, where the negroes alone were pre- 
pared to meet the dangers of the climate. To these propositions the 
entire democratic party were hostile. Officers serving in the army pro- 
claimed their intentions to resign if negroes were admitted to bear 
arms. The President refused to grant authority for raising colored 
troops, evidently regarding that policy as somewhat in advance of the 
popular mind. 

When General Butler captured New Orleans, he found the white 
population almost unanimously in favor of secession, while the colored 
people were all anxious for suppressing the rebellion. He also found 
an existing law of the State, authorizing the enlistment of colored 
troops. He immediately ordered a regiment of black men to he enlisted ; 
but whether he then had authority from the War Department to employ 
them in the service of the United States was not understood by the 
public* 

It was also said that authority had been given to raise a regiment of 
colored men at Hilton Head, South Carolina, during the summer of 
1862, but it was not brought into service until late in the autumn of 
that year. 

The rebels appearing in force in Kentucky, apparently intending 
the capture of Cincinnati, a brigade of colored men were called to 
act as laborers in digging rifle-pits, erecting batteries and fortifica- 
tions. They readily volunteered, faithfully performed the service, re- 
ceived the public thanks of the commanding general, and retired to 
their homes. 



* One regiment of colored troops vras actually mnster&d into the service of the United States early 
I (he month of September. 



THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION OF FREEDOM. 485 

Transpiring events constrained the President to action. On the 22d 
September he issued his proclamation, setting forth that " all persons 
held as slaves in any State, or in the designated part of any State, which 
should be in rebellion against the United States on the first day of 
Jauuary, following the date of said proclamation, should be thenceforth 
and forever free, and the Executive Government, including the military 
and naval authorities, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such 
persons." 

This proclamation was read with the most thrilling interest through- 
out all the States. The advocates of liberty rejoiced in the conviction 
that our Government had not only ceased to uphold slavery, but had 
now pledged its influence and powers for liberty and justice, to main- 
tain the primal truths for which it was instituted. 

The great and good of other lands now responded in deep sympathy 
for the cause in which our Government and the people of the free States 
were contending. Philanthropists in England and France, in Russia 
and Austria, expressed their gratitude to Him who sways the destinies 
of men and of nations for having guided our statesmen to the support 
of those rights which He has bestowed on men in all ages and all 
nations ; and Christianity uttered her invocation for our success. 

Even before the proclamation was issued, colored men were enlisted 
into the military service in South Carolina and Louisiana, and during 
the autumn four regiments of Louisiana native guards were mustered 
into the service of the United States at New Orleans.* 

The news of the President's proclamation reached the slaves throughout 
the States. All felt they were to be free on the 1st January. None be- 
lieved they were to be excepted ; while thousands in Missouri, Kentucky, 
Maryland and Delaware, and in the vicinity of New Orleans, refused to 
wait for the new year to announce their freedom ; but availed themselves 
of their powers of locomotion to seek their own happiness. In those 
States the institution became demoralized, and it was obvious that the 
emancipation of those in the rebel States would constitute substantially 
an emancipation throughout all the States. 

On the first day of January, a.d. 1863, the President issued his sup- 
plemental proclamation, declaring Eastern Virginia, North and South 
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, and parts of 

* The writer having contended for the humanity of the colored race for more than thirfy years, 
had the pleasure to learn that his youngest son mustered into service these four regiments of Louisi- 
ana guards, and subsequently the stiU further pleasure to learn that these and other regiments of 
colored men had exhibited unusual courage and gaUantry, more than vindicating all the author had 
said in favor of the African race. 



48(3 the president's supplemental proclamation.* 

Tennessee and Louisiana, to be in rebellion against the United States, 
and the slaves therein to be" thenceforth and forever free : Their liberty 
became thus identified with the existence of the Government ; which 
thenceforth ceased to maintain slavery : And the rights of all men 
to live, to that liberty which is necessary to support and protect life, 
acquire knowledge, enjoy happiness, and prepare for heaven, consti- 
tuted the prize for which the existing war was subsequently maintained. 
The history of that war, with its incidents and results, must be con- 
eigned to the pen of some younger, some abler historian. 



THE END. 



INDEX. 



Abolition of Slavery under the Confederation, 
11 ; Two tlmiisand Societies, 156. 

in District of Columbia, 35, 41, 96, 97 ; 

One thousand Citizens Petition for, 98; Un- 
constitutional, 103, 104, 267. 

Bad leal Abolitionists entertain erroneous 



ideas of Constitution, 248, 
Abbott, Auios, Mass., 234, 270, 2S4, 286. 

Abduction of freemen, 18. 

AbburUon, Nathaniel, ln.1.. 818, 828, 330. 
Adams, John, Serves on Committee to Draft 
Declaration of Independence, 10; Is a Com- 
missioner to Negotiate Treaty of 1783. 

Adams, John Quincy. Senator from Massaehu- 
-. opposes Bill in Suspend Commercial Re- 
lations with Hayti, 86. 
as President, proposes to send Commis- 
sioners to l'anaina Congress, 80. 

as Representative, presents Petitions for 

Abolition of Slavery in District of Columbia, 
96, 97; Inquires concerning Petition from 
Slaves, 107; Proceedings thereon, lOS-ili; 
Calls attention to Challenge of Mr. Stevenson 
to Mr. OConnell, 181; Explains his Views, 
127; Presents Resolution touching Employ- 
ment of Bloodhounds, 140; Is Counsel for Am- 
istad Slaves, 146; Asserts dnty of Government 
to interfere with Slavery in case of Insurrec- 
tion, 166; Reiterates doctrine. 156; Maintains 
Right of Petition, 157; Presents Petition for 
Dissolution of the Union, 159; Is arraigned 
therefor, 162; Incidents of Trial, 102-170 ^At- 
tempts to remove him from Chairmanship of 
Committee on Foreign Relations, 194; Argues 
question of Property in Man, 204; Vote, 209; 
Signs Address, 213; Solemn Ejaculation, 217 ; 
Reports on Memorial from Ma-saehusetts, 221 ; 
Obtains Repeal of Gag-rules, 236 ; Votes against 
Mexican War, 250; Last Speech, his Death, 
230; His Memory Vindicated, 376. 

Address of the Continental Congress, 11 ; Of 
twenty Members of Congress on the Annexa- 
tion of Texas, 213 

Adrain, Garnet B., New Jersey, 411, 441. 

Africans enslaved in South Carolina, and Amer- 
icans in Tripoli, 34, 40. 

AM, John A., Pa., 411. 

Aldrieh, Cyrus, Minnesota, 469, 475, 479. 

Alabama, Stace of, Secedes, 457. 

Allen, Elisha, Me., Votes, 209. 

Ailen, Charles, Mass., an Advocate of Liberty, 
300; Votes for W. J. Brown, 304; Defends 
Free-soilers, 306; Votes, 318, 320, 329, 334. 

Allen, Philip, Rhode Island, 418. 

Allen, William, Ohio, 443, 468, 469, 475, 479. 

Allison, John. Pa., 360. 

Alley, John B., Mass., 468, 469, 475. 

Alexander, II. P., New York, 31S, 328, 880. 



Amistad Slave-ship, History of, 143-147; Re- 
port in favor of paying for, 221 ; Senate votes 
for paying, 25S, 269, 362-304; Payment again 
Recommended 412; It is opposed In the House 
of Representatives, 413; Senate reports Bill, 
413; Not acted on, 413. 

Amendments of the Constitution Prohibit from 
Legislating for return of Fugitive Slaves, 13. 

Arnold, Isaac N., III., offers Bill Emancipating 
all Slaves in Territories and on board Ships, 
475, 460. 

Arnold, Samuel, Ct., 479. 

Anthony, H. B., Senator from Rhode Island, 
480. 

Ancona, , Pa., 46S, 469, 4S0. 

Andrews Sherlock J., Ohio, 210; Signs Address, 
214; Votes, 1S6. 

Andrews, George, New York, 313. 880. 

Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts. Reinon 
strateswith General Butler, 164, 166. 

Arrogance of Slaveholders, 188. 

Arkansas, Slavery admitted, 58; Secedes, 465. 

Aihly, James .»/, Ohio, 40s. i ;;t, 179. 

AsKburton, Lord, Not authorized to Negotiate 
in regard to Shipwrecked Slaves, 198. 

Ashmun, George, Mass., Votes, 268, 879, 2S6. 

Atchison, D. R , Missouri, leaves Washington to 
establish Blue-lodges, 372. 

Atherton, Charles G., New Hampshire, Votes. 
118; Moves Gag-resolutions, 122; In favor of 
paving for Slaves, 206. 

Ayerig, John B., New Jersey, Votes, 186, 209. 

Babcock, Alfred, New York, 1S6, 209. 

Babbit, Elijah, Pa , 46S, 469, 475, 444. 

Bailey, Joseph. Pa., 468, 469, 475. 

Bailey, G. F., Mass., 479. 

Baker, Stephen, New York, 468, 475, 479. 

Baker, Osmyn, Mass., 309. 

Baker, Edward D., 111., 306. 31 S, 330. 

Baker, David, New Hampshire, 90. 

Baldwin, Roger, 8., Ct., Vindicates the Natural 
Rights of Mankind. 295. 330. 

Banks, Nathaniel P., Mass., Is Candidate for 
Speaker, 3S4 ; Declares his Views, 835 ; Ad- 
heres to the Declaration of Independence, 8S7 ; 
Elected Speaker, 389 ; Reports Kill for Consti- 
tutional Convention in Kansas, 406. 

Barbary Suites, Capture and Enslave Ameri- 
cans, 34; Permit their Redemption, 35. 

Barr, Thomas J , New York, 443. 

Barnard, D. D., New York, Publishes Card, 188, 
209. 

Batchelder, , a Slave-catcher of Boston 

slain, 377; Movement for giving widow Pen- 
sion, 378. 

Bayley, Thomas J, Va., Denounces Advocates 
of Liberty, 274. 



488 



INDEX. 



Bayley, Gamaliel, Threatened by Mob, 274; 
Office Injured, 474. 

Bayard. James A., Senator from Delaware, 480. 

Beaty, William, Pa., 118. 

Beardsley, Samuel, Argues Case of a Fugitive, 
219. 

Beeson, II. W., Pa., 1S7, 210. 

Belcher, Hiram, Me., 2SU, 286. 

Benton, Charles S., New York, 234. 

Benton, Thomas II, Missouri, Denounces Abo- 
litionists, 103; Inquires as to Bloodhounds, 
13G; Opposes Treaty with Texas, 224; Intro- 
duces a Bill for same Object, 220; Presents 
withdrawal of Army from Mexico, 25S; Pre- 
sents Resolutions of "Missouri, 311; Is Assailed 
by Mr. Foote, 315; Causes a Ludicrous Scene, 
336. 

Sennet, Henry, New York, 330, 334 

Bidlack. Benjamin F., Pa, 1S6, 210. 

Biddle, Charles J, Pa., 4S0. 

Bingham, Kingsley S., Mich., 271, 2S7, 330, 834, 
440. 

Bingham, John A., Ohio, Advocates Expulsion 
of Brooks, 396 ; Answers Interrogatories 
promptly. 431 ; Presents Bill to Abolish Slav- 
ery in our Territories, 441 ; Presents Bill de- 
claring all Laws of New Mexico in favor of 
Slavery, void, 441, 469 ; Proposes to Emanci- 
pate afl Slaves of Rebels, 472, 475. 

Birdsall, Aivsburn, New York, 267, 270, 291. 

Birdsey, Victory, New York, 209 ; Signs Ad- 
dress on subject of Annexing Texas, 214. 

Bishop, W. D.. Ct, 411. 

Bissel, W. II., III.. 318,834 

Black, Edward J., Georgia, Assaults Author, 
23.-!; Ludicrous Incident, 239. 

Black, James, Pa., 234. 

Blackmer, Esbond. New York, 2S5, 287. 

Blair, Francis P., Missouri. 408, 409, 475, 479. 

Blair, S. 3., Pa., 46S, 409, 475, 479. 

Biake, Harrison G., Ohio, Presents Resolution, 
443: Votes, 463,475, 479. 

Bit sitings of Liberty, Should be extended to all 
persons, 14. 

Bliss, Philemon, Ohio, Opposes Bill providing 
payment for Slaves, 419. 

B! tie-lodges, Established in Missouri, 372. 

Bloodhounds, Resolutions concerning, 140; Em- 
ployed in Florida War, 155, 156. 

Boardman. William W., Ct., ISC. 

Boon, Ratliff, Ind., 118. 

Booth, Walter, Ct, 301, 318, 329, 336. 

Borden, Nathaniel B., Mass., 136, 2U9 ; Signs Ad- 
dress, 214. 

Bolts, John M., Va., 183, 187, 210. 

Bowne, Walter. New York, 1S6, 209. 

Brady, Jasper E., Pa., 284, 291. 

Bradiimry, James W., Me., 332. 

Brainard, Lawrence, Senate, Vt, 270. 

Breckenridge, John O, Ky., Assails Mr. Cutting, 
869 ; Democratic Candidate for President, 
446. 

Brewster. David P., New York, 186, 209. 

Bridges. S. A., Pa, 287, 291, 295. 

Brigirs, George N., Mass.. 1S6, 1S7. 

Briggs, George, New York. 318, 328. 830, 333. 

Brinkerhoof. Jacob. Ohio, His Political Course 
in Vote. 286. 

Broadhead, Richard, Pa, 369. 

Brockway, John II., Ct, 286, 291, 298. 

Broderick, D. C, California, Opposes a Slave- 
holding Administration, 407; Falls in a Duel. 
407. 

Bronson, David, Me, 2n9; Signs Address, 214. 

Brooks, James, New York, Announces Action 

of Whigs, 250; Votes, 35;!, 860, 371. 
Brooks, Preston S., South Carolina. Assaults Mr. 

Sumner, 394 : Resigns his Seat 396. 
Brown, John, ii\; Takes Harpers Ferry, 425; 
Two Sons Killed and himself Wounded, Sur- 



renders as a Prisoner, 425; he and his follow- 
ers Executed, 426. 

Brown, John, Jr., Refuses to appear before Com- 
mittee of Senate, 437. 

Brown, George H., Rhode Island, 469, 480. 

Brown, Aaron V., Tenn., Addresses General 
Jackson, 223. 

Brown, Charles, Pa., 1S7, 209. 207, 270, 234. 293, 
298. 

Brown, Jeremiah, Pa., 234. 

Brown, William J., Ind., 235, 302 ; Gives Pledges, 
803, 31S, 323. 

Buchanan, Andrew, Pa., IIS. 

Buchanan, James, Elected President, 399 ; First 
Message, 405; Encourages Invasion of Central 
America, 414: Discharges Walker. 415; Bus- 
tains Slavery in the Teiritories, 421 ; Declares 
Slaves Property, 422; Advises Payment for 
Amistad Slaves, 422; Alarmed at Brown's 
Raid, 424; His Official Mendacity, 449 ; Holds 
Correspondence with Rebels, 4.";3; Communi- 
cates Proposition of Virginia, 45S ; Retires, 
leaving War and a Dismembered Government, 
461. 

Buel, A. W., Mich., 31S, 323. 330. 

Buffington, Joseph. Pa., 234. 

Burke. Edmund, New Hampshire, 1S6, 209. 

Burnel, Barker, Mass., 186, 209. 

Burch, John C, Cal., 441. 

Burns, Joseph, Ohio, 411. 

Burnham, A. A., Ct, 479. 

Burroughs, Lorenzo, New York, 318, 328, 380, 
334 

Butler, Chester, Pa., 270, 2S7, 2SS, 31S. 328, 330, 
334. 

Butler, Thomas. Ct., 329, 834. 

Butler. Benjamin F., Proposes to put down Slave 
Insurrections 464; Discards claims of Slavery, 
405; Orders Enlistment of Negroes, 484 

Cable, Joseph, Ohio, 301, 318, 334 

Cadwallader, John, Pa., 396. 

Calhoun, Win. B., Mass. Attends meeting Ac, 
161. Votes, 186, 209. Signs address. 214. 

Calhoun. John C. Denies the "self-evident 
truths 1 ' on which the Government was founded, 
97. Declares the abolition of slavery in. D. C. 
unconstitutional, 102. Attempts to suppress 
anti-slavery publications, 105. Regards slavery 
yist, 106. Attempts to change international 
law, 112, 113. 114 Proposes to suppress agi- 
tation, 119, 120. Hesitates in regard to slave- 
trade, 192. His doctrines, 212^ Opposed to 
Mexican war, 253. Proposes to withdraw 
army, 25S. Declares preamble of act false. 
265. Denounces Mr. Hale's motion, 277. De- 
sponds, 294. His last speech, 815. Death, 316. 

California. Bill organizing free government 
in, 293. Walker's" amendment, 296. Bill 
passes House, 296. Senate does not concur, 
298. Left without a government, 309. Asks 
admission, 313. Vote in Senate, 336. In 
House, 337. 

Calvert, Charles B., Maryland, 4G9, 479. 

Calvin, Thomas, Pa., 313, 82S, 384 

Cambrelling, C. C. New York. 110. 

Campbell, Lewis D., Ohio, 818. 83". 334 Candi- 
date for speaker, 383. Intrigues with Mar- 
shall, 885. Loses confidence of his friends, 
3S6. Will not look at national difficulties, 
892. Offers resolutions of inquiry, 394 

Campbell. James H., Pa., 443, 468, 469. _Oifers 
resolution confiscating slaves, 472, 475, 479. 

Cameron, Simon. Appointed Secretary of War, 
468. 

Carter. David K., 313. 328, 329, 380, 334 361. 
Opposes adoption of primal truths, 44f 

Carpenter, Levi D., New York, 234. 

Carey, Shepliard, Me , 233. 

Carlisle, John S., Va, 480. 



INDEX. 



489 



Carrol, Charles TI., 234. 

Cass, Lewis. Makes no objection to the enslave- 
ment of freemen, 143. Candidate for Presi- 
dent, 2S3, 333. Dec.la.re8 it atrocious to advise 
slaves to escape, 346, 369. Congratulates 
country on passage of Kansas bill, 372. His 
character, 279. Exhibits emotion on retiring, 
379. Discards policy of adhering to primal 
truths, 398. Eesigns office of Secretary of 
State, 453. 
Carev, Joseph, Pa.. 31 8, 328, 330, 334. 
Carthcart, Charles W., Indiana, 271, 287. 
Chase, Salmon P. Demands a bearing in behalf 
of the Ire.- States, 858, Bigns address to the 
people of the United States, 3GG. The only 
candidate f.ir Prestdenl who had been an early 
advocate of tinman rights, 445. Appointed 
Secretary of the Treasury . 4 18. 
Ootids, Timothy, New Fork, 209. 
Chittenden, Thomas C, New York, 186, 209. 

Signs address, 214. 
Charnberlin. J I*.. 468, 419. 
Chandler, Zecbarlah, Mich., 480. 
Cliicagii Convention. Adopt amendment enun- 
ciating elementary truths. 445. 446. 
Xlapp. Asa \\\. Me.. 267, 291, 298, 298. 
Clark, Daniel. New lurk, W. 
Clark, Franklin, Me.. 26T, 270, 294, 291, 29a 
Clark, John . New York, 209, 214. 
Clark, Stalcy N , New York, 209. 
Clark, Lincoln. Iowa, 856 
Clark, J. H., Shod 160. 

Clark, Ezra. ft.. 411. 

Clark, llora.e F.. New York, 411, 468, 469, 479. 
Clark, Samuel, Michigan, 870. 
Clay, Henry. Distinguished as an advocate of I 
liberty. 51. By his vote establishes slavery iu 
Arkansas 66. Resigns office, tiS. Proposes 
compromise, 71, 72 Assailed by Randolph, 
81. Candidate for President, 127. Presents 
memorial in favor of slavery, 127. Approves 
pro-slavery publications, 135. Avows anti- 
slavery doctrines, 281. Is candidate lor Presi- 
dent, 2H6. Is inconsistent, 347. His death, 
852. Contributed to the rebellion, 470. 
Clayton, Thomas, Del Votes against Mexican 

War, 253. 
Clergy. Three thoi Band and fifty remonstrate 
against extension of s ! avery, 307. Five hun- 
dred IV Illinois remonstrate, 370. They 

resolve against it, 810. 
Cleveland. < inncey P., Ct Acts with repub- 
licans, 301. 806, 318. 
Clifford, Nathan. Me. 209. 
Clinton, James, New York, 186, 209. 
Clingman, Thos. L.. North Carolina. Threatens 

dissolution of the Union, 203, 214 
Cobden, Bichard, and other European statesmen, 

become silent on American liberty, 467. 
Cobb, Howell, Georgia. Reports in favor of 

paying for slaves, 244. Elected speaker, 308. 
Cobb, Geor-e P., New Jersey, 408, 469, 475, 

479. 
Cochrane, John. New York, 411, 412, 441, 445. 
Cole, Orsemus, Wis , 31S, 330, 3:34. 
Colerain. Treaty of. 21. 
Colfax, Schuyler, Indiana, 468, 469, 475, 479. 
Collamer. Jacob, Vt, 480. 
Collins, William, New York, 267. 270. 
"Comet" A slave ship. Indemnity claimed 

for slaves on board of, 205. 
Compensation for slaves lost or killed in the 

public service. 40. 
Compromises of the Constitution. 12. Of Mis- 
souri, 03. Of Congress. 848. s-ingular com- 
pact in renard of, ~m note, 34s Mr. Foote's 
resolutions to support, 351. Pronounced wise 
and just, 354, They fail, 408. 
Conklin, F. A., New York, 468. '75, 479. 
Coukliu, Eoscoe, New York, 46-. 469, 475, 479. 



Connecticut. Legislature of deprecate repeal 
of Missouri Compromise. 

Confiscation and emancipation, act for, 469, 470. 

Conger, James L, Mick. 860, 

Conger, Harmon S, New York, 270, 2S5, 2S7, 
318, 828, 329, 330. 

Congress convenes under President's proclam- 
ation, 465. Singular hallucination of members, 
466. Pass a law for dismissing officers who 
catch slaves, 477. 

Constitution. Amendments of. 12. 13. Prohib- 
its Congress from Interfering with life or lib 
erty, 13. 37. 

Cooper, James, Pa, 1S8. 209. 
, Court. Supreme. Precious instrument for sup 
porting slavery, 402. Case of Dred Scott 
402-8. Shocked Public conscience, 404. 

Corwin, Moses B., Ohio. 818, 330. 334. 

Corwin, Thomas. His political character, 430. 
Announces himself an exponent of republican 
doctrines. 481. 

Cowen, Benjamin S., Ohio, 1 j8, 210. 

Cowen, Edgar, Pa., 480. 

Covode, John. I'a, 4tiS, 469, 475, 479. 

Cox, Samuel, Ohio, 411, 468, 469, 475. 479. 

Cravens, James A., Indiana, 468, 469, 479. 

Crimes of Slavery, 868, 870. 

Crisfield, John W., Maryland. 469, 470, 479. 

Crittenden, John J., Ky. Seizes Brooks, to pre- 
vent assassination ot Si er, 344 Politically 

conservative, 410. Would chanse Constitu- 
tion, 455, 4H9, 470, 475, 179. Denies power of 
Congress to emancipate slaves, 481. 

Caban slaves. Ought not to be liberated, ^0. 

Cuba. Plan for obtaining, 25i Efforts to ob- 
tain, 374, 422. Bill introduced. 422. 

Cummins, John !>., o . 279, 287, 290. 

Curtiss. <;. \V.. New York. Proposes to insert 
elementary principles in Chicago platform, 
445. 

Cushing, Caleb, Mass. Declares resolutions of 
the author -an approximation to treason," 
1S2, 186. Vindicates slave-trade, 208, 209. 

Cutting, Francis B., New York. Moves reference 
of Kansas-Nebraska bill, 869. lieplies to Mr. 
Breckenridge, 370. 371. 

Cutler, W. P., Ohio, 469. 

Dana, Amasa, New York, 234. 

Darling, Mason C, Wis., 2S5, 2S7. 

Darragh, Cornelius, Pa., 234. 

Davis, Garrett, Ky. Proposes to obtain fugitive 
slaves from Canada by Negotiation, 141. 
Unites with Mr. Ingersol in report on Consti- 
tution. 221. 

Davis, John, Mass , 129, 139, 23^ 

Davis, Richard D., New York, 186, 209, 219, 234 

Davis, John W., Ind., 235. 

Davis, John G , Ind , 271, 411. 443. 

Davis, Jefferson, Miss., asserts that slaves are 
property, 266 ; Quotes Constitution, 267; Pro- 
nounces resolutions of Mr. Hale calculated to 
protect kidnappers, 277; Presents resolutions, 
321; Supports slaveholding Constitution for 
Kansas, 405 ; Asserts duty of his State to se- 
cede, 436; His resolutions, 437. 

Davis, M. M., Pa., 468. 479. 

Dawes, H. L . Mass., 46*S, 469. 

Dawson, John B., Louisiana, Assaults Author. 
210 ; Threatens to shoot him, 241. 

Dawson, John L. P., 371. 

Dean, Ezra, Connecticut, 188, 210. 

Dean, Gilbert, New York, 353,364; Objects to 
pensioning widow of Batchelder, 378. 

Delano, Columbus, Ohio, Exposes crimes of Mex- 
ican War, 253. 

Delano, Charles, Mass., 468, 475. 

Democrats educated to believe it a duty to sup- 
port slavery, 227. 

Democratic party avows no essential principle. 



490 



INDEX. 



356; In power, 362; Members believe party in- 
vincible, 370, 371 ; Prepare for another step to- 
wards dissolution of the Union, 373; Members 
desire civil war, 373; Fall into minority, 3S2; 
Hasten to adopt the Died Scott decision, 404 ; 
Seek to hide facts from the people, 40S ; Seek 
to revive former policy, 420; Kegard decep- 
tion, fraud, and crime necessary, 444; Unable 
to withstand the force of truth. 446 ; One por- 
tion unites with Douglas, another follows 
Breckinridge, 446; Expected to unite with 
slaveholders in carrying out rebellion, 449; 
Devotes its influence to support slavery, 461 ; 
Disappears amid the ruins of that institution, 
466; Inspired with hope, 467; Members be- 
come desperate, 481. 

Democratic Committee of New York appointed 
to report on raid of John Brown, 425 ; They 
report that Hon. John P. Hale, Hon. Gerrit 
Smith, and the Author, were involved in it, 
426. 

Denver, J. W., Cal., 396. 

Deported slaves, under treaty of 1783, claims for, 
19, 49, S2, 103 ; Claim of Hodges under treaty 
of Ghent, 281, 282; Mr. Hunter's motion rela- 
tive to deported slaves, 321; Compensation 
claimed, 41S; vide "Treaty" of Ghent." 

Dewart, W. L., Pa., 411. 

Dickey, John, Pa, 234, 270, 2S7; Pveports against 
claim of Pacheco, 2S9; Leads in Debate, 290, 
330. 

Dickinson, Rod ol pirns, Ohio. 267, 270, 287. 

Dickinson, Daniel 8., New York, 333. 

Dillingham. Paul. Vt,, 234. 

Dimuiock, Milo M.. Pa , 361. 

Dimmock, W. H, Pa, 411. 

Dirney, David F., Ohio, 361, 371. 

Dissolution of the Union if a Northern President 
were elected. 884. 386. 

Diveri. A. S., New York. 468, 469, 475, 479. 

Dix. John A., New York, Presents resolutions 
of that State, 29L 

Dixon, James. Ct. 270, 285, 287. 

Dixon, Nathan. Rhode Island, 318, 32S, 329. 

Doan, William, Ohio, lso, 210. 

Dodge. A. C, Wis., 360. 

Dodge, Henry, Iowa, Introduces Nebraska bill, 
364, 369. 

Doig, W. A., New York, 1S6, 209. 

Doty, James D., Wis., 318, 830, 334. 

Doolittle, J. K., Wis., votes to pay for deported 
slaves, 41 S, 480. 

Douglas, Stephen A.; Denies the existence of a 
higher law, 344: His character, 365; Reports 
bill to repeal Missouri Compromise, 365; As- 
sails those who signed address to people, 366, 
369; Denounces Ministers, 368; Assails reso- 
lutions of Clergy at Chicago, 870 ; Excuses 
him in regard to attack on Mr. Sumner, 395 ; 
Opposes despotism of Convention in Kansas, 
405; Opposed to the President, 407 ; Approved 
invasion of Kansas, 408; Charges Republicans 
with cherishing otfensive doctrines, 435; Is 
sustained by a portion of his party; 446. 

Dred, Scott, Case of, 402, 403, 404; Examined, 409. 

Duel, R. H., New York, 46S, 499, 475, 479. 

Duer, William, New Y. irk, 270, 2S1 ; Holds collo- 
quial debate, 305, 31S, 828. 

Dunn, McKee, Ind., 443, 468, 469, 475, 479. 

Dunn, George H, Ind., 285, 287, 291. 

Dunham, Cyrus L., Ind., 318, 32S, 330, 334, 361, 
370. 

Dun lap, Robert P., Me., 283. 

Dunlap, G. VV., Ky., 469, 470, 479. 

Duncan, James, Mass., 31S, 328, 329, 360. 

Duncan, Alexander, Ohio, Offers a bill lor taking 
possession of Oregon, 246; Votes for annexing 
Texas, 235. 

Eastman, Ira, New Hampshire, 209. 



Eckhart, G. W., Pa., 270. 285. 

Eddy, Norman, Pa., 371. 

Edmondaon, Brother & Sisters, their history, 279. 

Edgerton, Alfred P., Ohio, 361. 

Edgerton, Sidney, Ohio, 46S, 475, 479. 

Edsal, Joseph, New Jersey, 270. 

Edwards, Thomas M., New Hampshire, 465, 469, 
475, 479. 

Edwards, Thomas O., Ohio, 271, 287. 

Edwards, Ninian, 111., Announces his own moral 
cowardice, 61. 

Ellis, Cheselden, New York, 234. 

Elliott, Samuel D., Mass., 827, 329, 334. 

Elliott, T. D., Mass., 468, 469 ; Presents-resolution, 
472, 479. 

Ely, Alfred, New York, 468, 479. • 

Emancipation and Confiscation Act, 469; An- 
other act of Emancipation, 478, 479; An era in 
American history, 480; Proclamation of. 485; 
Quakers direct, at their yearly meeting, 22, 23. 

Emancipated Per*onn in North Carolina re-en- 
slaved, 23; Petition of, 24; Those of Hayti 
excluded from our Slave States. 31. 

Embree, Elisha, Ind., 271. 285, 287. 

Emigrant Aid Society, 373. 

English, W.H., Ind., Opposes expulsion of Brooks, 
395, 396; Re ids proceedings of a religious 
meeting in Chicago, 432. 

English, James E., Ct., 468, 469, 475, 479. 

Etheridge, Emerson, Tenn., Offers resolution 
against slave-trade, 401. 

European statesmen speak offensively of our gov- 
ernment, 467; Noble Lords criticise General 
Butler's order. 467, 4tiS. 

Evans, Nathan, Ohio, 271, 287, 318, 32S, 329, 3-30, 
334. 

Everett, Edward, Mass., Replies to attacks on 
clergy, 868; Holds slaves to lie property. 90. 

Everett, Iloraee, Vt, Moves to lay author's reso- 
lution on the table, 1-2; Moves to print 5,000 
copies of proceedings, 190, 209, 

Ewing, Thomas, Ohio. Fails to vote, 333. 

Exiles of Florida flee to Mexico, 256. 

Farringfon, James, New Hampshire, 118. 

Fairfield, John, Me . 118. 

Farlee, Isaac, New Jersey. 234. 

Farrelly, John W., Pa., 270, 287. 

Farnsworth, John F., Confronts slaveholders, 432. 

Farran, James J.. Ohio, 271. 285, 291. 

Fetteh, Alpheus, Michigan, 333. 

Fenton, Reuben E., New York. 468, 469, 475, 479. 

Ferris, Charles G., New York, 1S6. 2o9. 

Fessenden, William P.. Me., 186, 209; Replies to 
Mr. Douglas, 435, 480. 

Fessenden,"Samuel C, Me., 46S, 469, 475, 479. 

Ficklin, Orlando B., 111., 235, 271, 284, 287, 293, 
298. 

Fillmore, Millard. New York, Reports bill to pay 
money to slave-dealers, 206 ; Votes for it, 209 ; 
Selects Mr. Webster as Secretary of State, 326 ;. 
Alarmed at the threats of Texas, 326; Obtains 
convention for payment of slaves lost from on 
board Creole and other ships, 3S0 ; Contributed 
to rebellion, 470. 

Fisher, George P., Del., 469, 479. 

Fisher, David, O., 270, 28i ; Reports against pay- 
ment for slaves, 289. 

Fitch, Graham. 361, 41S. 

Fitch, Graham N., Ind., 318, 328, 330. 334. 

Florence, Thomas, Pa., 355, 36o, 361, 371, 896, 400, 
441, 443. 

Florence, Elias. O.. 235. 

Floyd, John G., New York, 186. 209. 

Floyd, Charles A., New York, 186, 209. 

Florida, Purchase of. 50 ; Asylum for fugitives, 

50; First Florida W r ar, 46-49; Second Florida 

War, 99-101 ; Causes kept from people, 102 ; 

■ Causes exposed, 150 ; Bloodhounds employed, 

135; She secedes, 457. 



INDEX. 



401 



Foley. James B., Ind., 411. 
Foote, 11 in -y 8, Mississippi, Desires to hang Mr. 
Hale, 277; Assails Col. Benton, 315; Affray 
with, 836; 8astains Compromise, 861; Dictates 
course to be followed, 352. 
Foote. Solomon, Vt.. 234, 241, 430. 
Forname, Joseph, Pa.. 209. 
Foster, A. Lawrence, 209. 
Foster, Henry I).. Pa.. 234. 
Foster, L. F. S , Ct, 480. 
power. (>n in. Mass., 818, 329, 334. 
Fouke. Philip 15., III., 443, 46S, 469, 479. 
Franchot, Richard, New York, 46s, 409, 475, 

479. ' 

Frank, Augustas, 468, 469, 479. 
FreJrh. E. I;.. Ma, 442. 

Fremont, John ( ' , S9S ; Issues proclamation, 470. 
Free states called to give security for good be- 
havior, 454 • 
Freemen tolling freemen into slavery in D. C, 

• '» *\ 
Free-Soilers nominate J. P. liale for President, 
an. I G. \V. Julian, Vice-President, 357, 349, 379, 
382, 18 
Friedley, John, Pa., 270, 235, 2S7, 81S, 828-880, 

i. 
PrlM, George ').. 270, 287, 291. 
Fugitic Delivered under confederation 

by Btatee, 12 ; No authority in Constitution to 
ate r, n sulject, 17; Passage of Act of 1793 
first departure from Constitution, 17, 13 J In- 
dians stipulate to redeem F. S.. 19; History of 
those on the Appalachieola River, •: : o, ,.>_■: .. 
mptorily demands return of 100 slaves un- 
der treaty ofNew York, 20. 21 ; Southern mem- 
complain that slaves find food and cloth- 
■■• the North, 81, 82; Many leave their mas- 
ter-. 83 : Fugitive Act used to enslave freemen, 
44; Its barbarous character, 44; Attempts to 
make a more stringent law, 44; opponents of 
-trade denounced, 45; Bill lost, 46. 
Fugitive slave bill oi 1860 Introduced and report- 
ed, 822; Is sustained by Mr. Webster 
Opposed by Messrs. Hale" and Chase, 3; 
I- passed through Ho ise, 884; Tl 
! rst victim under it a freeman, 840; Slaves 
murdered in Pennsylvania, 840 ; President ap- 
proves act, 841 ; Bbadraok arrested In Boston, 
■ '■ri ; Proclamation of President and general 
re of Secretary of War and Navy. 34:); The 
act declared revolting, dec., 847; Sims arrested 
in Dost.. n, 878, 877 : Eflbrts of military officers 
to capture, 467 ; Sent back by military officers, 
171 ; Thirty thousand fugitives leave their 
homes, 346; Infamous frauds, 347 ; Petitions to 
repeal law, 373. 
Fuller, J. D., Me., (spelled Porter in text), 355, 

Fuller, Hiram, Pa., 861 ; Candidate for Speaker, 
8S4 

Gag-resolution* of Mr. Pinckney, 105; Of Mr. 
Atherton, 122; Libellous, 123; Of Mr. Wise, 
124. 155. 

Gag-rules repealed, 236, 237. 

Gates, Beth M . New York, Character,134; Unites 
with Me>sr<. Adams, Blade, and Giddings. 134; 
Meets with friends of Mr. Adams, 161 ; Writes 
address on annexation of Texas, 213. 

Galphin. A term synonymous with fraud and 
peculation, 325. 

Gamble, James, Pa.. 861. 

Georgia establishes Slavery, 9; Demands troops 
to watch her slaves, 1 1 ; slaves leave their mas- 
ters, 38; Attempts to recapture. 39; Presents 
claims for fugitive slaves. 93; Party to a dis- 
graceful fraud, 94; Demands captain of a ship 
as a fugitive from justice, 139; Calls for further 
legislation in behalf of slavery, 140; Secedes, 
457. 



i Gerry, Elbridge, Me.. 318, 327, 323, 334 
Gerry, James P., 1ST, 209. 

I Ghent, Treaty of, Prohibits traffic in slaves, 109. 
Giddings, Joshua K., Ohio, Assails slave-trade in 
D. 0., 180, 181; Tests gag-rules, 143, 149; In- 
sulted. 150; Denounced by President Harrison, 
171; Presents resolutions touching coast-wise 
slave trade, ISO; They are pronounced an ap- 
proximation to treason. 182 : Is arraigned, 1-4: 
Censured, 1*7; Cheered by Mr. Clay, 189; He- 
asserts doctrines, 198; Publishes artiole signed 
Paciflcas, 196; Argues question of properly in 
iten.210; Signs address, 2J4; Removed from 
Committee on Claims, 216; Contends for Mr. 
Adams' Report, 222; Avows doctrines, 227, 
228; Holds colloquial debate, 222 ; Avows doc- 
trines, 235; Denounces annexation of Texas, 
2:38; Scene described, 239; Declares himself 
i..r war. 249; \'..te- alone. 271 ; Offers resolu- 
tions, 272; Visits prison, 274; Vindicates his 
course. 278, 27;»; Introduces bill to abolish 
slavery in D. C, 2S5, 2S7 : oilers resolutions 
declaring Hfe and liberty "gifts of God," 817 ; 
Present- petitions and moves instructions, 819, 
880,884; Maintains Kansas bill, 859; Argues 
ease of Amistad Slaves, 8 ; Signs address, 
81 6 ; Administers oath to Repub lean Speaker, 
889; Replies to Vallandigham's attack, 425: 
Ten thousand dollars bid for his bead, 425; 
Democratic Committee ol New York report 
that he was privy to Hrown's Raid. 428 ; His 
speech quoted by Mr. Cox, 431 ; Urges support 
of essential doctrines at ( hicago Convention, 
444; Proposes amendment of report, 445. 

Gillis, Jaines L, Pa. 

Glascock, Thomas, Georgia. Insults author, 131. 

Goode, Patrick G, Ohio. IS-*, 2il9. 

Goodenow, R. K., M... 210,818. 

Gorman, Willis A.. Ind . I >eei.ires Secession mon- 
strous in principle and destructive in practice. 
354, 361. 

Q !h, D. W., Mass.. 26«, 275, 279. 

Goodwin, John N., New York, 179. 

Q Iricb, /.. Mass., 360. 

Gordon, Samuel, New York, 186, 209. 

<;..tt. Daniel, New Vork, 27m, 285; Offers resolu- 
tion against slave-trade, 268, 287, 813, 330. 
884 

Gould, Herman D., New York, 828, 880, 331. 

Governments, British and Am rican, Unity in 
supporting a traffic in slaves, 381. 

Granger, B. F., Michigan, 468, 469, 475. 

Granger, Francis, New York, Expresses surprise 
at course of Mr. Adams, 109, ISO, 2. .9. 

Greeley, Horace, New York, 285, 287. 

Green, F. W., Ohio. 361, 371. 

Green, John S., Missouri, Proposes an armed po- 
lice along the line between Slave and Free 
States, 454. 

Green, A. K., Rhode Island, 833. 

Green, Byram, New York, 234 

Gregory, D. S., New Jersey, 270, 2S5, 287. 

Gregg, James M., Ind., 411. 

Grinnell, Joseph. Mass., 252, 270, 283. 

Grider, Henry, Ky., 469, 470, 479. 
Grimes, James M . Iowa, 480. 
Groesbeck, W. B., Ohio, 411. 
Gurley, John A., Ohio, 463, 409, 475, 479. 
Gustine, Auios, Pa., 210. 

Haight, Edward, New York, 40S, 469, 475, 479. 

Hale, John P., New Hampshire. His political 
course, in note, 236 ; Votes against resolution 
of thanks to General Taylor, 272; Introduces 
bill to prevent riots, &c, 270; Is assailed by 
Calhoun, 277; Presents resolutions of Quakers, 
312; Assailed by Butler, 319 ; Opposes fugitive 
act, 332; Holds up mirror to slaveholders, 352; 
Nominated for President, 357 ; Signs address, 
366; Reviews President's Message, 400; Unites 



492 



INDEX. 



with slaveholders in denying right of visitation, 

417; Opposes payment for slaves, 418; Charg- 
ed with participating in raid of John Brown, 

426; Analyzes President's Message, 454, 4S0. 
Hale, Artemus, Mass., 270. 284, 2S7. 
Hale, James T., Pa.. 468, 469, 479. 
Hall, N. K., New York, 270, 285, 286. 
Hall, Highland. Vt., 168,209. 
Hall. L. W., Ohio. 411. 
Hallstead, William, New Jersey, 1S6, 209. 
Salleck, General, Excludes fugitives from his 

lines, 471. 
Halloway, Ramson, 828-330, 334. 
Hallucination of Members of Congress, 465. 
Hamlin, Hannibal, Me., Opposes payment for 

deported slaves, 418, 441. 
Hamlin. E. S., Ohio, 234. 
Hampton, Mo.-es, Pa., 270, 287, 298, 318, 334. 
Hammond, It. II., Pa., 198. 
Hampton, James G., New Jersey, 270, 2S7. 
Harding, Aaron. Ky.. 469, 470, 475, 479. 
Harding, J. J., III.. 235. 
Harlanf Andrew J., Ind., 31 S, 330, 334. 
Harper, Aiexande r, Ohio, 236. 
Hart, E. B., New York, 360. 
Harrison, W. H, Ohio, 32; Elected President, 

142; His inaugural, 152; Lives but a mouth, 

154. 
Harrison, Richard A , Ohio, 479. 
Harris, Ira, New York, 460. 
Harris, Thomas L., 111., Denounces Lecompton 

Constitution, 408. 
Haskins, John B., New York, 411, 441. 
Hastings, Israel, New York, 411. 
Haws, John II., New York, 301. 
Hay, A. K., New Jersey, 334. 
Hayes, Samuel, Pa., 234. 

Hayti, Commercial relations with, suspended, 35. 
Hibbard, William, Vt, 31S, 328, 330, 334. 
Hendricks, Thomas A., Ind, 371. 
Henley, Thomas J., Ind., 235, 271, 2S7. 
Henry, Thomas, Pa., Meets with friends of Mr. 

Adams, 161 ; Votes, 187, 210. 
Henry, William, Vt, 285, 318, 330, 334. 
Hibbard, Harry, New Hampshire, 339, 334, 835, 

371. 
Hickman. John, Pa., Offers resolution, 384. 
Higher Law, Its existence denied, 346. 
Holmes, Eliae B., New York, 270, 2S5, 2S7. 
Holmes, Isaac E., South Carolina, Is eloquently 

inspired, 182. 
Hoaglandi Morris. Ohio. 318, 32S, 330, 334. 
Holman, \V. S., Ind., 441, 468, 469, 475, 479. 
Holt, Orrin, Ct., 118. 
Hoge, Joseph P., III., 235. 
Hooper, Samuel, Mass., 497. 
Horton, Gilbert, a man of color, advertised for 

sale in Washington, 83, 84 
Horton, V. B.. 468. 469. 479. 
Howe, John W., Pa., 301, 320, 330, 834, 359. 
Howe, Thomas, Pa., 318. 
Howard, William, Ohio, 441. 
Howe, Timothy, Wis., 480. 
Howard, Jacob M., Michigan, 18S; Signs address, 

214,480. 
Hubbard, Henry, New Hampshire, 129, 139. 
Hubbeil, W. S., New York, 234. 
Hudson, Charles, Mass., 1^6, 209; Signs address, 

'214; Prepares to defend author, 252. 
Hungerford, Orville, New York, 234. 
Hunter, General, Issues order emancipating 

slaves, 471. 
Hunt, Hiram P., New York, 1S6, 209. 
HunR Washington, New York, 231, 270, 2S7. 
Hatching, John, Ohio, Would protect free blacks 
in Southern States, 453, 468, 469 ; Would direct 
Marshall to discharge all persons not imprison- 
ed for crime. 474, 475, 479. 
Huyler, John, New Jersey, 411. 
Hyatt, Thaddeus, Mass., Refuses to appear before 



Committee,43S ; Is committed, 440 ; Is arrested, 
469. 

Illinois, Bill admitting State of. 56; Passed. 57. 

Indiana Territory, Petition for Slavery in. S2; 
Petitions again, 36; Quakers remonstrate 
against it, 36. 

Indians, Seminole, Treaty of Camp Moultrie, 
79; Stipulate to Surrender Slaves, SO; Called 
on to deliver up, 99. 

Ingersol, Charles J., Pa„ Misrepresents Mr. Ad- 
ams, 155; is Corrected, 156; Votes to ('ensure 
Writer, 186; Votes to sustain Slave-dealers, 
209; Makes Report in favor of paying for 
Amistad Slaves, 222; Moves to Print l'\000 
Copies, and votes to lay his Motion on tbt^Ta- 
ble, 222. 

Ingersol, Collin M., Ct.. 355, 361, 377. 

Ingersol, Joseph R., Pa , Unites in Report to pay 
Slave-dealers, 206 ; Votes for Bill, 209 ; to Cen- 
sure Author, 187; Unites with Mr. Davis in 
Report, 221. 

Irvine, James, Pa., Votes, 186, 209, 234, 2S4, 2>7, 
29S. 

Iverson, George A., Georgia, Declares that all 
attempts to save the Union must fail, 455, 460. 

Irwin, William W., Pa., 1S7, 209. 

Jackson. Andrew, Advises removal of Maroons 
from Florida, 7S, 79; Consistent supporter of 
Slavery, 95; Declares Anti slavery Unconsti- 
tutional, opposed to Humanity and Relig- 
ion, 102; Advises Annexation of Texas. .-■ . 
Patronized Traffic in Slaves, 205. 470. 

Jackson, W. F., New York, 318, 330, 334. 

Jackson, , Ky., 469, 470, 479. 

Jack, James, Pa., 1S6, 209. 

James, Francis, Pa., 187, 209. 

James, C. F., Rhode Island, 360. 

Jay, John, Negotiates Treaty, 19; Declares'de- 
mand on Eugland for deported Slaves is 
Odious, 19. 

Jefferson, Thomas, Writes Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, 10 ; Leader of Republican Party, 80 ; 
Pardous men convicted of violating Sedition 
Law, 30; is Alarmed at the Slave question, 
66, 67. 

Jessup. General, Makes Contract with Indians, 
24!; its peculiar character, 242; Declares 
Slaves the property of the United States, 
242. 

Jeuks, Michael, Pa., 234. 

Jenkins, Timothy, New York, 270. 

Johnson, Andrew, Tenn., 4S0. 

Johnson, Perley B., Ohio, 235. 

Johnson, Philip, Pa., 40s. 469. 475, 4s0. 

Johnson, James H., New Hampshire, Y'4es 
against Abolition of Slave-trade, 267, 2S4, 286. 

Jones, J. Glancy. Pa., 361, 371, 396, 411. 

Jones, Owen, Pa., 411. 

Jones, George W., Iowa, 332. 354, 368, 369. 

Jones, William, a Colored Man, advertised for 
Sale, 218, 219. 

Julian, George W., Ind., Elected as an Advocate 
of Liberty, 300; Fails to vote for W. J. Brown, 
303, 318, 330, 334; Nominated for Vice Presi- 
dent, 357, 46S, 469, 475, 479. 

Kansas, Demands attention, 390. Invaded by 
military force, and civil war commenced, 391. 
Bill admitting as a slave State passed by Sen- 
ate, and President approves the war, 391. 
Acts of self-styled legislature void, 392. Civil 
war continues, 399. Self-styled legislature 
pass an act for forrmng a constitution, 404. 
Refuse to submit it to vote of people, 4,05. 
Lecompton constitution transmitted to Con- 
gress, 407. Returned, 411. People elect dele- 
gates to form a free State constitution, 413. 
Topeka constitution formed, 413. People form 



INDEX. 



493 



another and demand admission, 420. Bill 
11!. 
A' una*- Nebraska. Bill introduced, 365. Passes 
ite, 309. Vote in House, 871. Passed 
Senate as amended, 372. Country congratu- 
lated, 372. 
Kellogg, James W.. Mich., 46S. 469. 475. 479. 
Kellogg, Orlando, New Fork, 270, 285,287. 
E a William, HI, 427, 468,469,479. 
K. ly, John D.. Pa., 168, -169,475,479. 
Kelly, John. New York, 411. 
K ■ 'incur. New York, 118. 

ly, Andrew, Indiana, 188, 210. 
,'. William. Ohio, 271, 284, 287, 293,293. 
1 >n, W. 8., New York. 443 

KeiiV Qi nrge M , Pa. Anecdote, in note, 167. 

E., New York, 479. 
i Preston, New York. Vide note page, 

\ otes, 287, 800, 802, 318, 880, 883 
i laniel P., Mass., 234, 252, 270, 2S6, 31S, 

820, 880 884. 

lames G.. New Jersey, 318, 323. 339. 384 
K g.John A., New York. 815, 828, 329, 880. 
King, George P., Rhode Island, 828, 829, 888, 
• i. W., Pa, 46S, 475. 
i >avid, Indiana, 427. 
Kirkpatrick, Littleton, New Jersey. 
R g, Bmith. John, Pa., 113. 

Knapp, A. I... 1:1 . 479. 
Knight. N. i:., Rhode Island, 
i .-Nothing party, 882. Their doctrines, 
Hold convention, 397. Propose union 
wiili Republicans, 397. Their political death, 

Kossuth, Invited to the United States, 353. 

Effects of bis visit, 
Kuhns, Joseph II., Pa, 355, 361. 
Kurts, W. II., Pa., 361, 371. 

Latin, Samuel, Ohio, 271, 2S5, 2S7, 291. 

Lane, James II, Kansas, 871, 480. 

Lane, Henry 8., Indiana, 188,210,480. 

Landy, James, Pa., 411. 

Lansing, New York, 463, 469, 475, 479. 

Larabe, Charles 11 . Wis., 141. 

Latham, M. 8., Cal., 480. 

Lav , International, 3S0, 3S1. 

I jaw, Higher. Its existence denied, 346. 

Law, John. Indiana, 469, 475, 479. 

Lawrence, William, Ohio. 411. 

Lawrence, Joseph, Pa., 161, 187,210. 

Lawrence, Sidney. New York, 270, 235, 270. 

Lawrence, W. P., New York. 270, 2S5, 270. 

Lasear, Jesse, Pa., -10-, 175, 4So. 

Leach, De Witt C, Mich., 412. 

Leary, C. L , Maryland, 479. 

Lea\ itt, Rev. Joshua. Meets with friends of Mr. 
Adams, 161. Acts on committee, 162. 

Lehman. W. E., Pa., 430. 

Leidy, Paul, Pa., 411. 

Levin, Lewis G, Pa., 2S4.291, 293, 323, 380. 

Life, liberty, and happiness are natural rights, 
10. Equally the gift of God to all men, 17. 
No person to be deprived of by Federal Gov- 
ernment, 8S, 

Lilly, Samuel, New Jersey, 371. 

Louis, Archibald, New York. 136, 209, 214. 

Lincoln, Abraham, Illinois, 271, 2S4, 2-7. Nom- 

1 for President, 445. Has but little Con- 

ional support, 446. A dangerous man, 

454. Inaugurated President, 462. Asserts 

I rines, 462. His cabinet, 463. Convenes 

Congress, 465. Yale " President." 

Limited powers of Government, 10, 60, 61. 

Littlefleld, N. 8., Me., 186, 209. 31S, 827. 

Lock hart, James, Indiana, 361. 

Logan, Henry, Pa., 118. 

Logan, John'A., III., 441, 443, 463. 

Loonus, Arphaxed. New York. 186, 209, 214. 

Looruis, Dwight, Ot, 463, 469, 475, 479. 



Louisiana secedes, 457. 

Lovejoy. Owen, 111. Presents resolution, 467 

468, 469, 475, 476, 479. 
Lowell, Joshua A., Me., 209. 
Lynde, William P., Wis., 284 b 287. 

Mace, Dan, Ind.. 361. 

Maclay, W. B., New York, 234, 270, 291, 411. 

Maine, Admission of opposed, 59; Bill for, at- 
tached to that of Missouri. 63; House disagrees, 
64; Senate recedes and Bill passed, 64; Gov- 
ernor of, called to deliver up Master of So ;*, 
139. 

Mann, Abijah, New York, Avows doctrine, 109 

Mann, Job, Pa, 270, 2S4, 237, 813, 828, S-S.j 
H-'A. 

Mann'. Horace, 818, 828, 829, 884. 

Marchand, Albert G., Is7, 209. 

Mallory, Robert, Ky , 469, 470, 475, 479. 

Martin, F. S , New York, 355. 

Martin, ( Jharies D., Ohio, 441. 448. 

Marsh, George P., Yt., 234, 281, 2S5, 237. 

Marston, Gilunan, N. II . 479. 

Marshall, Thomas F., Ky., Moves amendment to 
Resolution of Expulsion, 162; his Speech 
thereon, and Incidents, 168, 165, 168. 

Mar-hail, Samuel B., 111.. 895, 396, 411. 

Marshall, Edward, Cal., 361. 

Marshal of District of Columbia, Imprisons free 
persons, 474; Refuses to abandoto this moral 
Piracy, 474. 

Marvin," Dudley. 2S5, 239. 

Maroons of Florida, 76 ; Massacred at Blount's 
Fort, 77; Removal of, 73; they Massacre Dade 
and his Command, 78. 

Massachusetts. People petition to be. exempt 
from the crimes and disgrace of Slavery, '212; 
Petition for Equal Representation, according 
to Population, 220; Reports thereon, '221 ; Ben- 
ate refuses to print Memorial, 221 ; 
Agent to South Carolina to test Law, 341 ; For- 
bids the use of her Jails to imprison Slaves, 
842. 

Mason, Sampson, Ohio, 133, 209. 

Mason, James M., Virginia, Opposes printing 
Resolutions from Vermont, 810; Intro 
Fugitive Slave Bill, 322; Makes Report in 
favor of discharging Walker, 415; Makes Re- 
port against right of Visitation, 417 ; Interro- 
gates John Browu, 425; Makes Report frjin 
Committee, 437; Asserts that a Mob in Massa- 
chusetts released Mr. Sanborn, 489. 

Mathews, James, Ohio, 13S, 209, 235. 

Mattocks, Jonn, Vt., 133, 209. 

Mattuot. Joshua, Ohio, 188, 209. 

Matteson, O. B., New York. 330, 334. 

Maynard, Horace, Tenn., 480. 

Maxwell, P. B., New Jersey, 1S6, 209. 

McCauslan, William, Ohio. 235. 

McClellan, Robert, New York, 231, 285, 237, 293. 

McClellan, General, Issues Proclamation promis- 
ing to put down Slave Insurrection, 465. 

McClernand, John A., 111., 235. 267, 284, 237, 291, 
29S, 318, 323, 330. 3:34. 463, 469. 

McCorcle, Joseph W., Cal., 356, 361. 

McDonald, Moses, Me., 331. 

McDonald, J. E., Ind., 884 

McDougal, James H., Cal., 371, 4S0. 

McDowal, J. J., Ohio, 235. 

Mcllvain, Abraham B., 234, 363, 270, 237. 

MeKissock, Thomas, New York, 32S, 380, 334. 

McKean, J. B., New York, 468, 469, 475, 479. 

McKnight, Robert, Pa., 443. 

McKeon, John, New York, 168, 209. 

McKennore, Thomas F., Pa., 209. 

McLanahan, James H., Pa., 361. 

McKibben, J. C, Cal.. 411. 

McNair, John, Pa., 355, 871. 

McPherson, J. W., Ky., 469, 470,475, 479. 

McGaugliey, E. W., Ind., 384, 



494 



INDEX. 



Meacham, James, Vt, 828, 329, 330, 334. 

Medill, William, Ohio, 186, 209. 

Meade, Richard K., Scene between him and Mr. 
Duer, 305. 

Menzes. J. W., Ky., 469, 470, 475, 479. 

Michigan, Protests against the Extension of 
Slavery, 37S, 379. 

Miller, J. W., New Jersey, Pronounces Compro- 
mise just, 354, 360. 

Miller, Smith, Ind., 371, 395. 

Miller, Joseph, Ohio, 411. 

Miller, John K., Ohio, 267, 271, 2S4, 2S7, 291, 293, 
318,334. 

^Missouri, Bill for admitting, 53-56; Subject ab- 
sorbs public attention, 60; Compromise, 63 ; 
Constitutionality of, 64, 65; Mr. Adams' opin- 
ion, 65, 66; Excludes colored persons, 69; Ob- 
jected to, 70-72; Mr. Clay's Resolutions, 72; 
State admitted. 73. 

Missouri Compromise. Proposition to Repeal, 
365; Address respecting, 366; Three thousand 
and fifty Clergymen Remonstrate, 367 ; Vote 
in Senate, 369. 

Mitchell, William, Ind., 463, 469, 475. 

Montgomery, William, Pa., 411, 441, 443. 

Moore, Eli, New York, Presents Memorial for 
Slavery, 130. 

Moore, II. D., Pa., 318, 328, 330, 361. 

Morehead, James K., Pa., 468, 475, 4S0. 

Morgan, Christopher, New York, 209 ; Signs Ad- 
dress, 214. 

Morgan, Edwin D., New York, Protects Sum- 
ner's body, 394. 

Morrill, Anson P., Me., 475. 

Morrill, Justin L, Vt, 468,469,4S0. 

Morrill, Lot M., Me., 4S0. 

Morris, Calvary, Ohio, 1SS, 210. 

Morris, Jonathan D., Ohio, 318. 

Morris, E. Joy, Pa., 443. 

Morris, James R., Ohio, 469, 475, 479. 

Morris, Isaac N., 111., 453. 441, 443. 

Morris, Joseph, Ohio, 235, 285, 2S7, 291, 830, 
334. 

Morrison, John A., Pa., 361. 

Morrow, Jeremiah, Ohio, 188, 210. 

Morse, Freeman II., 221, 233. 

Moseley, W. A., New York, 234. 

Mississippi, State of, Secedes, 457. 

Murray, Ambrose L., New York, 894. 

Xalional Whig, assails Messrs. Palfrey, Tuck, 
and Giddings, 202. 

Natural rights of all men to life, liberty, and 
happiness, 10, 38, 82. North American States 
hold to, SI. Enactmeut against void, 38, 842. 
Basis of Republican government, 82. 

Xegro Troops. President urged to enlist, 4S4. 
A brigade of at Cincinnati, 485. Four regi- 
ments at New Orleans, 4S5. 

Nelson, William, New York, 2S5, 318, 328, 330. 
333. 

Ness, Henry, Pa., 234. 207. 

Newell, W. A., New Jersey, 2S7, 330. 

New England, adheres to platform adopted at 
Philadelphia, 406. 

New York Legislature resolves against admis- 
sion of Kansas as a slave State, 412. Abandons 
Philadelphia platform, 466. 

New Jersey opposed to extension of slavery, 
220. 

Nesmith, J. W., Oregon, 4S0. 

Newhead. Peter, Pa., 187, 210. 

Niblaek. W. E., Indiana, 411, 441, 443. 

Nicol, lienry, New York, 270, 2S7. 290. 

Nixon, John, New Jersey, 443, 46S, 475, 479. 

Noble, Warren P., Ohio, 468, 469, 475, 479. 

North Carolina secedes, 465. 

Northern States repeal their laws for protect- 
ing free colored people, 459. 

Nugent, Robert H„ Ohio, 466, 475, 479. 



O'Connell, Daniel, The Irish Statesman, chal- 
lenged by Mr. Stevenson, 121. 

Odell, Moses F., New York, 46S, 469, 475, 479. 

Ogle, Andrew J., Pa., 318. 328, 330. 

Ohio, Democratic legislature of assert doctrines. 
406. 

Olds. Edson B., Ohio, 31S, 380, 361. 371. 

Oligarchs. Hold slavery a permanent blessing, 
349. 

Olin, Abram B., 468, 469, 475, 479. 

Oliver, William, New York, 186, 209. 

Oregon. Bill to take possession of, 247-9. 

Oppression. Advocates of serving in all depart- 
ments of Government. 

Osborn, Thomas A., Ct, 186, 209. 

Otis. Harrison G., Mass. Changes position, 61. 

Otis, John, Me., 329, 334. 

Owen, Robert Dale, Indiana, 235. 

Pacheco, Lewis, Case of, 288, 289 : Vide, " pro- 
perty in men.'" 

Packer, Andrew. Pa, 361, 371. 

Palfrey, John G., Mass., Is assailed, 262 ; His 
character, 266; Speech and' incident, 275: His 
motion and speech, 2S0 ; Asks leave to intro- 
duce a bill, 284, 286. 

Palmer, John, New York, 118. 

Parmenter, William, Mass., 180. 209. 

Parker, Amasa J., New York, US. 

Parliament of Great Britain discusses General 
Butler's Order, 467. 

Parker, Samuel W.. Ind. 

Partridge, Samuel, New York, 186, 209. 

Patterson, Thomas J., New York, 234. 

Patton, John, Pa., 468, 475, 479, 4S0. 

Paulding, Commodore, Pursues and brines back 
Walker from Central America, 414; Receives 
vote of thanks, 422. 

Pierce, Franklin, as President, recommends pay- 
ment for slaves on board Amistad. 362: Sends 
his annual Message to House pending election of 
Speaker, 3S6 ; Sends second Message while that 
body is unorganized, 3SS; Reads lectures to 
people in his last Message, 399; Charged with 
official mendacity, 400. 

Pearce, James A., Maryland. ISO. 

Peace Congress proposed, 450; Elects John Ty- 
ler to preside, its action, 458. 

Peaslee, C. H., New Hampshire, 284, 280, 818, 
827, 334. 

Peck. Lucius B., Vt, 270, 287. 318, 323, 320, 380. 

Pendleton, Nath. G.. Ohio, 210. 

Pendleton, G. H., Ohio, 411, 441, 463, 469, 475, 
479. 

Penniman, E. J., Michigan, 355. 

Pennington, Alexander M. O, New Jersey, Can- 
didate for Speaker, 3S6 ; Signs report for ex- 
pelling Mr. Brooks, 395. 

Pennington, late Governor of New Jersey, Elect- 
ed Speaker, 435. 

Pennsylvania abandons doctrines enunciated at 
Philadelphia, 466. 

Petit, John, Ind., 368, 369. 

Petition, Eight of, suppressed, 119 ; Debated, 155, 

• 158. 

Pugh, George E., Ohio, Advocates payment for 
deported slaves, 418; Rebuked by Southern 
men, 436; Denies that Senate possesses Judi- 
cial power, 438. 

rhelps, Launcelot, Ct, 118. 

Phelps, Samuel, Vt, 310, 333. 

Phelps, John S.. Missouri, 479. 

Phelps, F. G., Cal., 479. 

Philadelphia protests against importing slaves to i 
New Orleans, 34. 

Philosopliy which teaches that deception, fraud, 
and crime are necessary to the support of gov- 
ernment, is dangerous, 404. 407, 444, 452. 

Pike, F. A., Me., 468, 475, 479. 

Pitman, F. C. W., Pa., 318, 32S, 330. 



INDEX. 



495 



Plummer, Arnold, Ra., 187, 209. 
Polk, .lames K, in his Inaugural, claims whole 
of Oregon, 247 ; Asks advice of Senate and re- 
cedes, 256 ; Proposes, to withdraw army from 
Mexico, 258. 
Pollock, James, Pa., 234, 270, 2S7, 2SS, 293. 
Pomeroy; F. M.. New York, 46S, 469, 475, 479. 
Pomeroy, S. C, Kansas. 489. 
Porter, Augustus. Michigan, Refuses to support 
coastwise slave-trale, 138 ; Votes alone for 
laving resolutions on table, 140. 
Porter, Albert G., In.i., 46?, 4G'J, 475, 479. 
Fetter, E D , Ohio, 284, 
Potter, Elisha, Rhode Island, 234. 
Potter, John !•"., Wis, 469. 475. 
I'ratt. Zadoo, -New York. 2:;4. 
President's Attempts to follow European, 18; 
_ President regards them binding, 75. 
President Lincoln convenes Congress, 466; Signs 
Confiscation and Emancipation bill, 470; Sets 
aside General Fremont's proclamation of free- 
dom, 471; Sets aside General Hunter's pro- 
C amation of emancipation, 471 ; Refuses to re- 
ceive negro troops, 4>t; Oonstrained to act, 
4^.".: First Proclamation of Freedom, 4S5; 
Second Proclamation of Freedom, 435. 
Price, R. M., New Jersey, 358. 
Primal Truths, Policy of asserting, discarded by 
Clay, Webster, and Calhoun, 398; Asserted 
and explained, 409 ; The Invasion of these rights 
constitute crime, 410, 412, 423; Are evaded, 
414; Are not vindicated by Republican Sena- 
tors,886; Proposition to assert them in plat- 
o-nn i 146; President elected on Plat- 

form, 447; Voice of people, 443; Arethecause 
ol South Carolina's secession, 452; Congress 
legislated for Slavery, 464: But are compelled 
to retain primal in ha, 488; Tbe constitution 
the price for which war was waged, 485. 
Prentiss, John II.. New Turk, lib. 
Prentiss, Samuel, Vt., [23. 
Protlit. George 11., In.i.. 188, 194, 210. 
Property in man, 40; Denied, 85, 87-91; Sus- 
tained by Judiciary, !M, 92; Said to be clear, 
103; Denied by Justice McLean, 152, 153- 
Again re) I 345. 

P »rdy, I. N.. New York, 2S4 
Putnam, Harvey, New York, 270, 2S5, 2S7, 318, 
8*>0. 

Quakers, petition for abolition of slave-trade, 
15, 19, 26, 27, 28, 42, 43, 93. Withdraw fellow- 
ship from slaveholders, 22. Persons emanci- 
pated are re-enslaved, 22. They protest against 
introduction of siavery into Indiana, 36. As- 
sert that free negroes are kidnapped in New 
Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and sold 
Booth, 87. 

Ramsy, Robert, Pa., 210. 

Ramsey, Alexander, Pa., 234. 

Randall, Benjamin, Me., 186, 209. 

Randolph. John, Va. Eloquently exposes bar- 
barism of slave-trade in D. C, 41. Moves to 
reconsider vote admitting Missouri, 64. As- 
sails Mr. Clay, 81. Lectures Southern mem- 
bers, 87. 

Rathbun, George, New York, 234. 

Raynor, Kenneth. North Carolina. Takes posi- 
tion to defend author, 234. 

Bedding, John R, New Hampshire, 136, 209. 

Redpath, James. Refuses to appear before Sen- 
ate committee. 437 

Reed, Charles M„ Pa!, 234. 

Reid, Robert R., Pa., 818, 330, 334. 

Reynolds, Gideon, New York, 2S5, 2S7, 318, 330. 

Reynolds, John, III.. 267, 2S4, 291, 29s, 880, 334. 

Return of mother and six children born in Penn- 
sylvania to bondage, 366. 

Republican Party, pledged to vote for no 



man who would not sustain right of petition, 
3S3. The contest opened, 333. General move- 
ment in favor of reorganizing, 386. The call 
for convention, 397. The platform, 397-8. 
Discard Know-Nothings, 39S. A political 
power, 399. Oppose extension of slavery, 400. 
8uccess becomes evident, 402. Their danger, 
4o7. They become confident, 412. Have a 
large majority in House of Representatives, 
426. Difficulty from Whig members, 426. 
They fear influence of slaveholders, 430. Ex- 
hibit pusillanimity, 434. Resort to Whig prac- 
tice, 435. Abandoned by Mr. Seward, 4, r <9. 
Make no preparation for war, 461. A Repub- 
lican President inaugurated. 462. Come into 
full possession of Government. 465. Senators 
and Representatives from Ohio follow Mr. 
Seward's policy, 466. In several States they 
nominate and elect Democrats who had always 
supported slavery and opposed Republicans, 
466. Republican doctrines only means of re- 
storing peace, 472. 

Reformers. Spurn policy of Clay and Webster, 
and Cass and Calhoun, 4s.:. 

Rhodo Island protests against extension of slav- 
ery, 878. 

Rice, John II., Maine, 468, 475, 479. 

Rice, A. II., Mass., 46S, 469, 479. 

Richardson, W. A„ III., 267, 284, 291, 293, 298, 
330, 334, 361, 383, 468, 479. 

Riddle, A. G., Ohio, 468, 469, 479. 

Rirlgeway, Joseph, Ohio, 188, 209. 

Biggs, Lewis, New York, 209. 

Riggs, Peter R., New Jersev. 441, 448. 

Bialey, Elijah, New York, 81& 

Ritchie, Thomas. Expelled from Senate cham- 
ber, 257. 

Ritchey, James, Ohio, 267, 271, 287, 291. 

Ritter, John, Pa.. 284. 

Bobbins, Asber.jihode Island, 129. 

Robinson, Orville, New York, 284. 

Robinson, John L, Indiana, 207, 234, 287, 294 
818,880,884,855,861.871. 

Robbins, John, I'n., 818. 828, 884. 

Robinson, J. C, III., 441, 445, 46S, 469, 479. 

Rochhill, William, Indiana, 271, 287. 

Rockwell, Julius, Mass., 234, 270, 286, 318, 328, 

Rockwell, John A., Ct, 284, 287. 

Rogers, Charles. New York, 234. 

Rollins, James S., Michigan. 

Rollins, E. H., New Hampshire, 463, 469, 475, 
479. 

Roosevelt, James J., New York, 1S6, 209. 

Rose, Robert L, New York, 270, 287, 223, 230, 371 

Ross, Thomas, Pa., 355, 361. 

Root, Joseph M.. Ohio. Exposes slaveholding 
management, 293. Elected as an advocate of 
liberty, 300. Refuses to vote for W. J. Brown, 
303. Vindicates himself and friends, 309. Of- 
fers important resolution, 310. Maintains it. 
318, 320, 330, 334. 

Bumny, David, New York, (Ramsy, in text,) 
285, 287, 318, 328. 



Russell, Jeremiah, New York, 234. 
Russell, W. T, New York, 411. 

Sacket, W. A., New York, 330. 

Sample, Samuel C, Ind., Makes Report, 221. 

Sanborn, F. B., Presents Petition, 438. 

Sandford, John, New York, 209. 

Sargeant, John, Pa., Opposes Slavery in Mis- 
souri, 70, 209. 

Sargeant, A. A., Cal.. 479. 

Sawtel, Cullen, Me., 31S, 329, 334. 

Sawyer, William, Ohio, 267, 270, 2S5, 287, 291, 295, 
298. . ' 

Saulsbury, William, Del, 4S0. 

Schermerhorn, A. M., New Y'ork, 318, 323-330, 
334, 355, 361. 



496 



INDEX. 



Sehenck, Robert C, Ohio, 235, 271 ; Offers an 
Amendment, 279; Proposes to withdraw Ar- 
my from Me-xico, "258. 

Schoolcraft. John L., New York, 313, 330, 334. 

Se.ranton, G. W., Pa . 443. 

Scott, C. Z., Ca!., 411,441. 

Scudder, Zeno, Mass., 355. 

Secession. First Secession. 116-118; Firstmove- 
ment towards Final Secession, 320; Secession 
foretold, 337; Declared Monstrous in Princi- 
ple, and Destructive in Practice. 354; Deemed 
necessary to preserve Slavery, 451. 

Searing, John A., New York, 411. 

Sedgewick, C. B., New York, 408. 469, 475, 479. 

Seward, William II.. Presents Petitions, 802, 
333; Demands hearins for Free States, 353; 
Closes Debate on Clergymen's Memorial, 36S ; 
Offers Resolution respecting Outrage on Mr. 
Sumner, 894; Unites with Mr. Mason in de- 
nying right of Visi ation, 417; Declares he 
will not recognize Property in Man, 418; Thir- 
ty thousand dollars offered for his head, 42G; 
is Candidate for President, 45S; Remarkable 
Speech, 459 ; Mr. Iverson says he will not 
permit War, 460: is appointed Secretary of 
State, 463; his Correspondence with our Min- 
ister at London, 466; Followed Policy of Har- 
rison, Tyler, Tavlor, and Fillmore, 4S3. 

Shank, John C, Ind., 46S, 475, 479. 

Shannon, Wilson, 371. 

Shaw, Tristram, New Hampshire, 209. 

Shaw, Aaron, 111., 411. 

Sheil, George K., Oregon. 479. 

Shellebarger, Samuel,' Ohio, 463, 469, 475, 479. 

Sherman, J. N T .. New York, 468, 469, 475, 479. 

Sherman, John, Ohio, is Candidate for Speaker, 
42b : is timid under taunts and sneers of Slave- 
holders, 4 1 2'.t ; Refuses to answer Interrogato- 
ries, 432; Withdraws as a Candidate, 430. 

Sickles, Daniel E., New York,.411. 

Simmons. J. F., Rhode Island, 440, 4S0. 

Simonds, Samuel, Ct., 234 

Skelton, C. II., New Jersey, 360. 

Slide, William, Vt, Presents Petition, 116; Pro- 
vokes Secession, 117; Presents Resolutions, 
124; Attends meeting of Friends of Mr. Ad- 
ams, 161; Publit-hes Card, 1SS; Signs Address, 
214; Untiring in his labors, 216. 

Slaves, Deported, vide Deported Slaves. 

Imported into New Orleans, 34; into 

United States, through Amelia Island, 68. 

Annually Imported into United States, 76. 

Set free by Shipwreck on British Islands, 

114; Compensation for, 112, 113, 114. 

Are not Property, 85-91. 

— Collie passes Capitol, 125, 126. 

■ Fugitive Slaves surrendered under Con- 



federation, 12; Northern Members vote for 
Fugitive Act, 29; Act used to enslave Free- 
men, 25; Indians agree to return, 20; Proposi- 
tion to pay Masters for, 21 ; South demands a 
more stringent Law, 31 ; Provokes Debate, 
32; Leave their Masters and settle in Florida, 
38; Freemen Enslaved, 41; the South again 
demands a more efficient Law, 45; Cause of 
the first Seminole War, 46 ; Cause of the 
second Seminole War, 99-101 ; Massacre of 
Major Dade and his Command, 101; these 
Causes kept from the People, 102 ; Blood- 
hounds employed, 13o; 

New Fugitive Bill introduced, 322; Op 



posed, 332; Passes Senate, 333 ; Vote of House, 
334, 335; First Victim, 340; Fugitives in 
Pennsylvania shot, 340; President approves, 
841 ; Shadraek escapes to Canada, 342 ; Presi- 
dent's Proclamation, 343. 

Slaves who Escape, Declared atrocious, 346; 
Masters authorized to slay, 403; are shot by 
Deputv Marshals, 403. 

Slave-trade, Coastwise, Prohibited by Treaty of 



Ghent. 173; Slave-ships, 174; Creole. 176; 
Mr. Webster's views, 177; Declares Traffic 
Lawful, 17s; History of this Traffic, 175-1 78; 

Author presents Resolutions concerning, 174; 
is Censured, 18S. 

Slaves of rebel masters Emancipated, 469. 

Slavery, Forty Members from Free States vote 
to extend, 371; Slavery and Freedom meet in 
open conflict. 390; Battles fought to establish 
Slavery in Kansas. 399; Constitutes leading 
feature in the Southern Confederacy, 460; Af- 
rican Slave-trade reopened, 400; Seemed by 
Resolution of Senate, 417; Slavery and the 
Union in death-struggle, 47ii; Right to Eman- 
cipate Slaves denied. 473; All support of Slav- 
ery endangers Government. 433. 

Slaveholders, while denouncing Northern m«n 
for agitating questions of Slavery, denounce 
Northern men for replying to them, 347; Felt 
the sceptre of power sliding from their grasp, 
390. 

Slave-catcher slain, 377. 

Slave-power, Paralyzed, anil its prestige lost. 414. 

Sloan, A. S., Wis, 4i>9, 475, 480. 

Slicer, Rev. Henry. Looks upon horrors of Slave- 
trade unmoved, 27S; Incidents, 278. 

Smart, E. K., Me., 2S4, 2S6. 

Smith, Truman, Ct, 186, 209; Signs Ad'.ress, 
214; Joins in Report to pay for deported 
Slaves, 2S1, 2S5, 333. 

Smith, Albert, New York, 234. 

Smith, Thomas, Ind., 235. 

Smith, Caleb B., Ind., 235, 267, 284, 237. 

Smith, E. H., New York, 468, 469, 475. 

Smith, Gerritt, New York, Character of. 874; 
Signs Address, 376. Reported by Democratic 
Committee of New York as involved in Raid 
of John Brown. 426; Commences Suit, and the 
Committee back down and pay Costs, 426. 

South Carolina, Lectures Northern States for 
electing Harrison, '-'47; Resolutions of her 
Legislature, 432; Her Representatives retire 
from Congress, 451 ; Causes of Secession, 451. 

Southern Confederacy formed, 466. 

Southern Members arrogant and dictatorial. 393. 

Spaulding, E. G., New York. 468, 469, 475. 

Spinner, Francis E.. New York, 375. 

St. John, Henrv, Ohio, 235. 

St. John, Daniel B., New York, 270, 2S5, 2S7. 

Starkweather, G. A., New York, 285, 289. 

Stetson, Samuel, New York, 234. 313. 32'.), 334. 

Steele, W. G., New Jersey, 468, 475, 479. 

Steele, John B., New York, 4uS, 469, 475, 479. 

Stewart, John, Ct., 234. 

Stewart, Andrew, Pa, 234. 293. 

Stevens, Thaddeus, Pa.. Nominated for Speaker, 
850. Confronts Slaveholders, 429. Tantalizes 
them, 230, 469, 475. Charges design upon 
General Halleck.476. 479. 

Strong, Selah B., New York. 234. 

Strong, William, Pa., 284. 828. 

Strohen, John, Pa., 252, 270, 285, 287. 

Stokely, Samuel, Ohio, ISO, 209. 

Stuart, John F., 111. 188, 210. 

Stuart, Charles E.. Mich , 356, 369, 371. Admits 
change of Opinion in his State, 379. Opposes 
Lecompton Constitution, 405. Opposed to the 
President, 407. Votes to pay lor deported 
Slaves, 418. 

Sturgeon, Daniel, Pa., 332. 

Sumner, Charles, One of the Senators who de- 
manded a hearing for the Free States, 358. 
Signs Address to the People, 366. Character- 
izes Bill repealing Missouri Compromise, 867. 
Replies to Senator .Jones, 374. Is severe on 
Mr. Butler, 393. Is stricken down in Senate 
Chamber, 394. Represents Massachusetts. 894. 
Unable to attend to duties, 396. Presents Pe- 
tion of Mr. Sanborn. 438, 440, 441. 43-). 

Sweetser, Charles, Ohio, 302, 828, 329, 330 



INDEX. 



497 



riylvester, P. ft., New York, TfO, 295, 257, 31s. 

' 380, 384. ' 

Bykes, George, New Jersey, 234. 

_• . I tmes Sew York, § 'opnsea to make 
freedom 'In basis of government in Missouri, 
.">3 ; His proposition adopted, 55: Declares lie 
would not argue barbarous character of slavery, 
56. 

Frederick A . N< « York, Votes, 270, 
2*5; I [KKsition, 288, 818, 825, 828, 384 

adge. N. i'.. New York. 129, 189. 
Tappan, Benjamin, Ohio, Votes against Mr. Por- 
ter's motion, ■ ' 
Taylor, John L, Ohio, 856, 861, B71. 
Taylor, John W , New York. Proposes freedom 
in Arkansas, 52 ; Opposes Slavery in Missouri, 
58; Elected Speaker, 69 ; 1- defeated, 74 

I . Candidate for President, 267; 
K cted 288; Exerts his influence against free- 
in in Califoi nla, 297. 
Taylor. George, New York. 411. 
Tn I r,J"ohn I... Ohio, \ Blave- 

trade in District of Columbia, 5 banges 

po tion, 288, 291, 818, 33 
Tenm - des, 165 

Texan. Annexation of, Foretold in an \ 
by Members ol Congress, 218; Mexico 
alarmed, 222 : Treaty nf a 
i. leral Jackson consulted, 224; Mr Wi 
dtsmlssi ■' in i ■ r i 

d, Mr. Hi i i t . iii ml ri 
226 : i' eff ■■' on Demo- 

Gov< ' i. threatens to 

expel United States Army, 826. 
Texas Debt*, Bill to pay debts of Texas, 827; 
I'rir i 19, Tex- 

as demands three and a half millions dollars 
niiii ■ Stock jobber* and gamblers 

Texan interest, 3S0: I upon 

'. im Stores, Ififl 

Thon M . 169, IT'' 

I , Eli, Mass., 0| ii of primal 

truths, 441,445; Defeats Bill Prohibiting Blav- 
erj in Territories, 442. 
Thomason, William P., Kv., Proposes peace with 

Mi rico, 258 
Thompson, J. I:., N*. w J< rsey, 3n9. 
Thompson, William, [ova, 285, 2S7. 
: pson, Richard W„ Ind.,210,271,284,291,298. 
pson, Waddy, South Carolina, Whimsical 
position "i; 124: Insults Author, 150; Re- 
warded, 152 
Thompson, James, Pa., Votes, 218; Changes po- 
Bition, 288; V ites, 818, 825, 828. 884 

Thurman, , i >bi i 118, IS, 8 10, 884 

Tilden, Daniel R., Ohio, Votes against Annexa- 
tion of Texas 285; against Mexican War, 

Tillinirhast Joseph. Rhode Island. 1S6, 2o9. 

Tipton. John. In. I.. 129. 

Titus, Obadiah, New Y T ork, 118. 

Toland, George W., Pa., 187, 209. 

Toombs, Robert, Georgia, Avows himself for 
Dissolution, 805; -> ts House at Defiance. 30,7. 

Tomlinson, F. A., New York, 209; Siirus Ad- 
Mr. 58, 214. 

Toncey, Isaac Ct, 369. 

Traffic & if. g, A j ,, Treaty of Ghent. 

Train, Charles i:.. Mass . 469, 470, 475, 479. 

Treaty ofllBS, Claims for Slaves deported in 
violation of, is. 19; Debate on, 22; Claims 
pronounced < tdious, 19. 

Treaty of Ghent, Forbids deportation of Slaves, 
89; Forbids traffic in Slaves, 39; Compensa- 
tion for deported Slaves claimed, 49; Refused, 
57; Controversy closed. 32. 

Treaty of Payne's Landing, 99; Stipulation 
for separate Territory to Seminoles, 100. 
eaty of Camp Moultrie, 75. Its Objects, 75. 



T eaty with Great Britain to suppress African 

- ive-trade. 472. 
I i inible. Carey A.. Ohio. 443,475. 
Trumbull, Lyman, 111 . Reviews President's Mes- 
otioe of l.ill t<> emancipate 

nil Sla e-,. and confiscate all property of Rebels, 

178, *S0. 
'!> imbull, Joseph, Ct, 186, 209. 
Trowbridge, R. E . Mich.. 468. 475, 479. 
Tuck, Amos, New Hampshire, Votes against 

Whig candidate. 262. Votes a<.'aih-t Slave 
270, 271, 286, 800, 804 30s, 829, 834. 
Turner. Thomas J, 111.. 287. 
j Tyler, 67i »■ ral. His Barbarism, 476. 

Vnion, Its Dissolution threatened, 27, 2s, 61, 70. 
Shadowed forth in the Contest between Hayne 
and Webster, 97. No real Union between 
Freedom and Slavery. 106. People dissatis- 
fied, 119. Petition for Dissolution, 159. Vide 
J (j \ 

UnderhiU, W-lter. New York, 313, 328, 330, 334 

Upbam, William, Vt., 332 

Vallandlgham. C. L., Visits John Brown, and 
avors to implicate Author in the invasion 
Of Virginia, 42.".. 4H. 443. 46S. 475. 479. 
Van Valkenburg R. B., New York, 468, 475, 479. 
Vail, George, New Jersey. 871. 
\ an Wyck, C II.. New York, 468, 469, 475. 
Van Ham, New York, 16S, 169, 17 .. 479. 
Van Buren, John, New York. Votes, 209. 

Joseph, i 'hi , Votes, 235, 252 
Van Dyke, John. New Jersey, -'s6. 288, 293, 328, 

ter, -'oli i J., Votes against Annexation of 

1 l.-nr\ . Votes, 209. 

• irer. , Iowa, I 

\ - ie, John P., Pa, I - 169 475. 
\ and I', 01. o. Votes, -'3. r > 271, 235, 

. 

ipose to act 
-■I', e and Free States, 
but propose nothing bin timber miarantees 
f.r> • 

Vihb ard. i rew York, 479. 

i: ght of exercised by British ships, 
4Hi. Uesolul on of Senate concerning, 416. 
i asserted and maintained, 417. But de- 
Messrs. Mason, Seward, Hale, 
Wade, and others, 417. 
Voorhies, D. W., Ind., 469, 479. 

Edward, Ohio. 860. 

>'• r unin F., Ohio, Pronounces assault on 

Simmer cowardly. 895. I'nnes with Messrs. 
Mason, Seward. Hale, and others in denying 
ri-ht of Visi ati in, 417, 441. Maintains Re- 
publican doctrines 456, 540. 

Wadsworth, W. II . Kv., 4r;9, 470, 479. 

v. «i r Da ID., Pa., lis. 

Waflbridge, Henry 'I'.. New York, 371. 

Walden, Hiram. New York. 328, 330, 334. 

YY.'i do, Loren P.,Ct.,318, 329,834 

Wa k, r, Isaac P., Wis., 296, 333. 

Walker. Amasa, Mass. (Watson, in text), 475. 

v r. Wiiliam A., New York, 871. 

Walk.-r. William, and followers, invade Centra] 
America to establish Slavery, 414, 415. 

Wall, Garret. New Jersey, 129, 139. 

Wallace. John W.. Pa., 468. 469, 475, 4S0. 

Wallace, David, Ind., 206, 210, 1SS. 

Wall. William. New York. 479. 

Wallbridge, Hiram, New York, 411, 479. 

Walsh, Michael, New York, 355, 360, 371 

Walton. E. P., Vt . 468, 469 

Walton, Charles, Me . 403, 469, 475, 479. 

Warren. Cornelius. New York, 270, 285, 237 

Washburne, Blihu B .468, 475,479. 



4S8 



INDEX 



The Untied States en-raged in hvo Wars 

i Barbary Powers to abolish Slavery. 

and two with Seminole Indians to sustain it, 

War with Mexl ■ ' f, 251. Cohi- 

irii-i Its advocates disappoi ' 

Propositions to close, '_'.":S. Remonstrate 
against, 264. 

: i pa Mr? to Civil War, arms and am- 

iimnitio!i were transporte i South. 45-4 First 

i of -fo ; Eel 

Mu- 1 i„. rt.-t <irt.be North, 4."! Southern 

en assured the people oi other Nations 

ouldftenoWaf, 457i Hostilities •om- 

' '■ ■. Cannonade of Sumter, and at- 

w>re ; of Troopsin Baltimore, 168. 

Throws upon the Executive despotic powers, 

4V2. 

'oi'. Edwin IT. Md.. 469. 479. 
Ward, El }ah,New Fork. 4fiS, 475,479. 
Ward, Aaron, N. Y.. 1 36, !#y. 

pit, -I. ('.. Paid lor Slaves, 355, 850 

r, Daniel, < onb ■■ villi llavne, 07. Es- 
teemed t.y Whig party, 97. ilis views of 

Ic in Slaves, ''177, Instructs our M 
at London, ITS. Indorses Mr. Caibftai 
nine. 272,294. His Till March Speech. 325; *s 
. 886. Approves Fugitive 
Act, 335. Discovers errors, and calls Religious 
influence to bis aid, 835. Cabinet C 
His death. 353. Contributed to ' 
be lii 'i. 470. 
Weld, Theodoffe, Attends meeting; of Mr. Adams 1 

els, it;i. .' ilttee, 162. 

Weller, John K, Ohio, Presents Resolutions for 
censoring Author, 184. Wishes to amend 
Journal, 190. Votes lor Slave-dei lei 
For Annexation of Texas, 289S 36 

ivorth, John, Illinois, 285, 271, 285, 287, 330, 

WeStbrook, John. Pa.. 187, 209. 

Westbrook, T. It., New York, 371. 

Wheaoon, Horace, New York, 234. 

Wheeler, W. A.. New York, 168, 469,475, 479. 

Whig Party. Paralyzed by doctrines of Mr. 
Webster, 225. Avow no doctrine at Conven- 
tion, 356. Discard Advocates of truth and 
Justice, 35C. Surrenders its own ezi 
858. Believed that deception, fraud, and 
crime were n. v ssaty, 404. Anxious to revive 
form, r policy, 420. Seek to deny Republican 
doctrines, 448. 

Whiteomb. James, Ind., 333. 

White, Allison, Pa.. 411. 

White, Albert S., Ind., 139, 4('S, 469, 475, 479. 

White, Chilton A., 468, 475, 479. 



White, Hug!;, New York, 270, 2S5, 287, 818, 328, 

. Joseph L.. fl d . I ■-*. 210. 
lesey, W A.,ObiOj ■ . 
WicklifTe. Charles Ai,--Ky., 469, . 7 , LSI. 
Wick; WfiliaiH W.. Ind..'.'.:. 291; 
Wigg, William H., Paid for Slave3 deported 

durnig the Revolution. 359, 360. 
Wigfall, L., Texas, Declares cotton to be king, 

4."'. 
Wfidricb I New Jersey( 828, S80, 86i( 

lot, flavid, Pa:, Would support Me 
War by taxation. Assailed therefor, -j , . 

tte "f Libertyj 800. Vbti - 
for Bi'ov a, 
Wilson; James F:, Iowa, 479. 
Wilson, Henry. Mass., Calls attention to Outrage 
on Mr. - 9 i. Revietwa Pre * 

I mi. - with Mr. Mftsi n 
other-, it r. • Slaveholders, 436. < >:'- 

lets Resolution directing Marshal of District of 
!■ bia to discharge person's against whom 
no eharge existed, 47 1 ' 
Wiley, James . 284, 2867298. 

us. Thomas W., Ct, 186j % 9. Signs Ad- 

ni - Henry, Mass:, 284 

' \>w Hampshire, 270. 2c'8: Re- 
ports against paving for Slaves, 2S9. Votes, 
338, 8Bf, 829. 
Wind am, Min 469,475,479. 

Wihtbn R t C, : 180, 2091 Reports Bill pro- 
: fisoi inei ; ofcolored persons, l'1-j. 
Opposes Annexation of Texas. 234. Candidate 
d. and arranges 00m- 
iriitte Promotes eleoti of General 

Taylor; 'J'".:<. Candidate for i r, 801. 

I I, • 

Henry A., Excuses Dawson's attempted 
violence. 211. 

e, W. II.. Pa.. 871. 
Wright, Hendricks I!. Pa., 871. Moves to ex- 
elude blacks from pub io ands, 876. 408, 475, 
481. 
Wright, W., New Jersey. 418. 
Wood, Fernando, New York, 186, 200. 
Wood, Amos E., Ohio, 318, 834. 
Wood, Benjamin, New York. 46s, 475. 479. 
Woodruff, George <'..<' .. 468, 475, 479. 
Worcester, Samuel T., Ohio, 468, 475, 479. 
Wortendike, Jacob, New Jersey, 411. 

Young, John, New York. ISO, 209. 
Young. Augustus, Vt., 186, 209. 
York, Thomas Jones, New Jersey, 186, 209. 
Yost, Jacob, Pa, 234. 



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